


Back from Beyond

by Ultra



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, Drama & Romance, Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Family Drama, Family Dynamics, Family Issues, Love Triangles, Relationship(s), Teenage Drama, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-02
Updated: 2009-07-02
Packaged: 2019-08-27 19:17:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 48,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16708471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: Happily married Logan and Veronica return to Neptune with their teenage twins after almost twenty years away. Nothing could’ve prepared them for what or whom they and their kids would face!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place in an AU future - Seasons 1 and 2 happened; Season 3 and the movie did not.

“I still can’t believe we’re doing this.” Veronica sighed as she looked out of the passenger side window and watched the scenery fly by.

“You didn’t think one day we’d be coming home?” her husband checked as he glanced from the road to her face and back. “C’mon, Veronica. It was always going to happen.”

“After all this time, you still think of it as home,” she said thoughtfully as she turned to stare at him.

“Like you don’t.” He rolled his eyes as he briefly took them off the road. “We both did more growing up in Neptune than anywhere else,” he reminded her. “And besides, for all the heartache and crap that town threw at us, we got one good thing out of it,” he grinned at her. “It’s the place I met you and made you mine, Mrs Echolls”

Veronica grinned too at that. All that she’d been through in Neptune, most of it had led to badness, but Logan was right. If not for the town that had brought with it pain and death and suffering, there would not have been the joy of meeting and marrying her husband, or giving birth to their children, or watching them grow into the two teens that sat in the back seat, staring out of opposite windows, with the headphones of their respective I-Pods jammed in their ears.

‘Welcome to Neptune,’ said the sign as she glanced out the window once more and Veronica took a deep breath. This was the strangest experience, returning here after so many years of being gone. She hadn’t even visited, not in almost twenty years. It was too difficult to face her past all the time.

Of course, Keith hated that his daughter had moved away, but he certainly understood it. He’d regularly visited his daughter and her family at their first new home, and the subsequent places they moved to, but not once had Veronica and Logan come back to Neptune to see him. At first it was simply more sensible for one man to travel in one direction than try to transport a young couple and their twin babies the other way. After that, work and school had been blamed for making it impossible for the family to make the trip, but Keith knew that the real reason was always very clear in all their minds. His baby girl had grown up and moved on from the town where too much loss and pain had occurred.

They moved around quite regularly, for the work of both Veronica and Logan. She was a big shot PI, quite famous for her ability to crack cases that other detectives as well as the police struggled with. Logan was prestigisouly proud of her, if not still freaked out on occasion when she went diving into a dangerous situation without a thought. He had chosen not to follow in his parents footsteps, though he’d made a tidy sum off occasional interviews and photo ops. Twenty years on, it was crazy how many magazines and TV shows still wanted a piece of Logan Echolls, orphan son of the great Aaron and Lynn Echolls, who had so tragically been torn from him when he was so young.

Veronica was often amazed at how her husband had coped with the loss of first his girlfriend and then his parents, before moving away from the town he’d called home so long to start over with her. He often told her she was the reason, the answer to all the questions about how he coped and how he’d managed to carry on without so many who he had loved before. It was flattering but in a way also felt like pressure to Veronica, to know that without her Logan might just fall apart, not that she had any intention of ever leaving him, she loved him far too much for that.

“Hey, kids,” Logan suddenly called into the back at considerable volume so as to be heard over the music they both had thumping in their ears. “See that? That’s where your Dad grew up,” he told them, gesturing vaguely out of the side window, before putting his hand firmly back on the wheel as they came to a bend in the road.

“Man, that place is huge!” his son gasped. “You really lived there?”

“Pretty much,” Logan agreed, finding the enthusiasm over the house so amusing, after all it had just been home to him.

After his father was killed, of course, Logan lost everything to his adopted sister, Trina. Clearly the fued between father and son had gone far enough that somehow Aaron had got his will changed. Everything was ripped out from under Logan’s feet and the poor little rich boy was rich no more. It hit him hard initally, but he soon realised he had far from lost everything. He still had Veronica, she was all he really needed. He could cope with anything else so long as she was here at his side, and she always had been.

“I can’t believe you had a house that big.” His daughter shook her head, and Logan smiled.

“Well, half of it’s my old house, a lot had to be rebuilt,” he explained, before sharing a pained expression with Veronica, the both of them suddenly wishing that he’d never started this conversation now.

“So,” his wife cut in with a clap of her hands and a bright but forced smile. “Who’s excited to see Grandpa Mars?” she asked as she turned to look at her kids.

“Mom.” Her daughter rolled her eyes. “As much as I love Grandpa, we’re not five anymore,” she explained. “The idea of a hug and a dollar to buy candy being the highlights of the day are kinda lacking in excitement.”

“Spoken like a true Miss Mars,” said Logan, mostly to himself, a grin taking over his face as he kept his eyes on the road, whilst Veronica tried to hide her own smile.

Amelia protested she was not a Mars but an Echolls, whilst Joel tried to explain to her that wasn’t the point, it was her character that was important, not her name. The noisy family didn’t exactly sound like they got along very well as they continued to yell and talk over each other all the way into town, but that’s just the way it was with them.

* * *

“You have no idea how good it is to see you, sweetheart.” Keith grinned as he hugged his daughter tight to him once again.

Logan and the kids had gone on to their new house, whilst Veronica had stayed at her old home to talk with her father who she missed so much between visits.

“I’m not going to lie, it’s weird being back here,” she admitted when they parted and she cast her eyes around the room. “but it’s not all bad.” She smiled.

“The kids might enjoy seeing the places where their parents met and stuff,” Keith told her. “Y’know they seem to grow every time I see them.” He shook his head.

“Tell me about it.” Veronica rolled her eyes. “Keeping them in clothes and food is challenge enough, but at seventeen they’ve discovered all kinds of other expensive stuff they want. It’s lucky our line of work keeps the money rolling in”

“Hey, that’s my old line of work,” her father pointed out. “I’ve been Sheriff long enough now, you should remember, Veronica.”

“Of course I remember.” She rolled her eyes. “I was practically your campaign manager,” she recalled, before realising it was just days after her Dad’s election that she’d left town, never to return, at least, not until today.

Knowing where her mind had drifted to, Keith did the decent and fatherly thing; he changed the subject.

“So, the kids start their Senior year next week, huh?” he said, knowing it was true. “How’d they cope with the idea of moving for their final year?”

“Pretty well, actually.” Veronica nodded. “They’re used to moving for the sake of mine and Logan’s work, and they weren’t exactly having a great time at their last school anyway, so it’s all good.”

“I’m sure they’ll do fine at Neptune High,” Keith assured her. “It’s a good school, even if you don’t have the best memories of your time there.”

“It wasn’t exactly the school’s fault that everybody decided I wasn’t worth the time of day, unless they were telling me I was a slut or a bitch.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m sure Mia and Joel will be fine there.” Veronica nodded, though honestly, she had her doubts.

Its not like the twins were bad kids, on the contrary, she and Logan had brought them up it be decent and honest, to handle themselves when situations got out of hand, but never to go looking for a fight. They understood the value of money, they studied hard, and yet knew how to have a good time. All in all, they were pretty much all the best qualities of their parents combined, except for a couple of things.

Mia had a tendency to be a little too like her mother, or rather, like Veronica used to be when she was seventeen. She could be strong-willed and opinionated, and with that wonderful quality of never backing down form anything!

Joel, on the other hand, was more quiet and sensible. Unfortunately, he was on occasion a little too quiet for Veronica’s liking. As well as sharing Logan’s eyes and smile, he also had his tendency to bottle things up sometimes. Though he had a reputation for being out-spoken at the most inappropriate of times, Veronica knew that Logan sometimes liked to hide the important things away inside. A little coaxing and he would tell her everything, and whilst Joel took a little more working on, he too would eventually spill all to her.

How the two kids would cope at Neptune High, Veronica hadn’t a clue. She’d like to think they would come through it relatively unscathed, and much less mixed up than she and Logan had been. Of course they wouldn’t have the problems she did, the obstacles of a murdered best friend, epileptic possible-half-brother boyfriend, and 09ers friends that turned on her all at once. Besides, even if things weren’t great for them here, it was only one school year. Nothing could go seriously wrong in so short a space of time, at least that was what Veronica told herself, even if she did know, deep down inside, that it was entirely possible for things to go very wrong, especially in Neptune.


	2. Chapter 2

“Okay, you have your cell, books, cash for lunch...” Veronica counted off items as she fussed around the kids who looked somewhat bored.

“Mom!” Mia complained, though it was a good natured and complete with smile. “I know this is our first day at a new school, but we’re in the twelfth grade, not the first.”

“Oh God, am I being super-freak Mom?” the blonde cursed herself, as her husband wandered into the kitchen.

“Look at the beautiful scene,” Logan declared dramatically flinging his arms wide to encompass the whole room and his family in it. “The doting mother packs her two little ones off to their first day at a new school. It’s so adorable,” he said, raising his eyes heavenward as he clasped his hands together.

The kids rolled their eyes in unison and Mia directed Joel towards the door.

“Let’s go already,” she urged him. “Before this gets even worse.”

“Aaw, they grow up so fast.” Logan faked tears of happiness as he put an arm around Veronica’s shoulders and squeezed her to him.

“You’re such an idiot,” his wife laughed, playfully shoving him away.

“But you love me anyway, Mrs Echolls.” He smiled as he turned her into his arms and looked down into her eyes.

“Always have, always will,” she agreed, before they shared a kiss, “but even you and your doting husband routine isn’t going to stop me worrying about the kids,” she admitted when they parted a moment later.

“Veronica, it’s not the same school we went through.” Logan sighed. “Sure, its the same building, maybe even a couple of the same staff, but its not those kids that hurt us.”

“I know.” Veronica nodded as she put the breakfast things into the sink. “I just... I can’t help worrying.” She shook her head, knowing it was one part of being a mother she really hated.

At some point you had to let go, you had to let your kids grow up and be their own people and make their own mistakes. Veronica knew how hard things could get when you’re a teenager. Far from worries about zits and homework assignments, she’d had to deal with murder and more. Teenage life had been hard for her in Neptune and every time she thought about it too much, she realised she may have made a huge mistake making her kids go through their high school Senior Year back in the place where she and Logan grew up too fast.

Still, she knew wherever they ended up this time around she would’ve worried just as much about her two babies making friends, passing tests, growing up into well-adjusted adults. Her father assured her that all this was not specific to her, it was just part of being a parent, and some of those worries never truly went away.

* * *

“We so need better cars,” Joel commented as he and Mia hopped out of their respective vehicles in the school parking lot.

“What’s wrong with what we have?” his sister asked as she grabbed her bag out the back of the old convertible she called her own, and walked with Joel across the lot towards the school building.

“Look around, Mia!” he urged her. “Look at what everybody else drives,” he said, practically salivating over the newer, faster cars, the like of which he would die to have.

“You know what Mom says.” Mia shook her head. “If everybody else drove off a cliff, would you want to do that too?” she said as they continued walking.

“That’s so weird,” said a giggly voice behind them and they turned to see a brunette girl hovering behind them. “I’m sorry,” she apologised for butting in on their conversation. “It’s just my Dad says the exact same thing.” She rolled her eyes, because as much as she loved her father she was still a teen and didn’t always appreciate parental advice, even when she did she wasn’t likely to let friends or potential friends know it.

“I guess it’s just a general parent thing.” Mia smiled. “Er, you think you could help us out, we’re new here.”

“I didn’t think I’d seen you around here before.” The girl smiled brightly, more so at Joel than at Mia. “I’m Maddy,” she told them. “Welcome to Neptune High.”

“I’m Joel,” the boy told her, with a smile not quite as sunny as the one he received, after all as flattering as it was that she seemed to like him, it was kind of embarrassing too, especially since she seemed so enthusiastic and giggly about everything so far. “This is my sister, Amelia,” he introduced.

“It’s Mia,” the girl snapped at her brothers obvious and deliberate mistake - she didn’t love her first name and always shortened it, he knew that better than anyone.

“That’s so cool,” Maddy enthused. “Like Mia the princess from those books.” She giggled.

“Er, yeah,” the other girl nodded awkwardly.

It seemed that far from being a scary place, Neptune High might actually be quite amusing if the people were anything like Maddy, the first of many that they were to meet.

“So, er, Maddy.” Mia smiled as they walked into the school building. “Do you have brothers and sisters?”

“I have one sister,” she admitted, the smile slipping from her face. “She’s in college, or at least she’s supposed to be. My Dad has some problems with controlling her sometimes.” She rolled her eyes.

“Believe me, having a sister is way better than having a twin brother,” Mia complained, as Joel gave her a shove, only to receive a harder push back that sent him flying into some people walking the other way.

“Hey, dude!” a blonde boy complained as he shoved Joel away again. “Watch where you’re walking, man,” he told him.

“Sorry,” he said, looking embarrassed and also a little worried, after all this guy was taller than him and better built for a fight than he was.

“It’s cool, dude, don’t sweat it,” the threatening young man suddenly looked jovial, and smiled brightly, though Joel realised he was now looking passed him at Mia and Maddy. “You making new friends, Mad?” he asked, clearly already knowing the girl that the twins had just met.

“Yeah.” She grinned, like it was the best thing ever. “This is Mia and Joel, they’re twins, and they just joined Neptune High for their Senior year,” she introduced. “Guys, this is Adam.”

“Hey.” Mia offered a smile in greeting to the young man who was without doubt the hottest she’d ever seen outside of magazines.

With raven hair and tanned skin, muscles rippling beneath his T-shirt, Mia almost forgot where she was as her imagination went into overdrive over Adam - what he looked like without his shirt, how he probably played sports and got all sweaty at the gym and...

“Mia!” her brother yelled, snapping his fingers in her face. “God, where did you go?” he asked as she came back to reality and realised the bell had rung and everybody was on the move.

“To a galaxy far far away,” she said with an eye roll, like Joel had just made a huge fuss over nothing as they headed off down the hall. “Come on, we don’t want to be late,” she said, as if it would be his fault for holding them up!

Joel couldn’t be bothered to argue, it just wasn’t worth it with Mia, besides it would just be one more thing too many to think about when he should really be concentrating on surviving Senior Year at the school in which his parents had suffered so much.

* * *

Mia and Joel were actually quite surprised to have come through their first day at Neptune High relatively unscathed. From what their parents had said they’d expected something much worse. Their Mom had gone extra crazy about them joining this particular new school and though they’d never admit it, the twins had been a little worried that they’d go into the building and never come out again like some kind of freaky house of horrors.

As it was, the worst the Echolls twins had suffered was a few whispers and some pointing at lunch, which had been explained away later by Maddy. She seemed to have taken a particular liking to the new kids, though Mia suspected it was more Joel than herself that was the attraction for the giggly new friend they had gained. On asking her why they may have been the subject of interest for a certain group of their fellow students, Maddy had broken into characteristic high-pitched laughter, before explaining that those people were the 09ers.

“Oh, like the rich and privileged?” Mia recalled her parents explanation of that particular group, and even how their Dad used to be part of that set.

“Pretty much.” Maddy had nodded. “Most of them aren’t exactly friendly, unless you’re one of them, but we’re not all like that.”

“We?” Joel had echoed looking surprised. “You’re an 09er?” he’d checked, uncertain since Maddy didn’t seem like the rich bitch type.

He assumed all those girls to be blonde and beautiful, with Prada everything and a size zero body to fit into their designer gear. Maddy was pretty but not exactly a stick insect in size, and she just didn’t fit the mould of rich bitch at all.

“Kind of,” she said awkwardly. “My Dad was an 09er years ago, and my sister was too. It’s not like I don’t come from the right family but those guys aren’t exactly, y’know, my kind of people.” She shrugged.

Joel and Mia were both pretty grateful that Maddy considered them her kind of people instead, after all they could use a few friends and so far she was the only one they’d really made. It seemed the young people of Neptune were not so fast to accept newcomers into their lives, classes, or conversations.

“Well, that went pretty good considering the hell I was expecting,” said Mia as she and Joel walked towards the parking lot and their respective vehicles.

“Er, sis,” Joel said, as he stared past her. “I think you spoke too soon.”

“What the hell?” Mia gasped as she followed her brother’s eye line and spotted the state of her car and his, both of them with the tyres slashed and spray paint across the trunk. “Why do I think this has more to do with you than with me?” she glared at Joel as they both read the sprayed-on message.

The back of Joel’s car quite clearly read ‘Loser’ whilst the more squashed together lettering on Mia’s said ‘Loser’s Bitch’.

“Ooh.” Maddy looked sympathetic as she appeared beside them. “How did you manage to upset the PCHers so bad on your first day?”

“How many crazy cliques do you have at this school?” Joel yelled, clearly and understandably not happy about the damage done to his precious baby, otherwise known as his car.

“Mostly just two,” Maddy told him, hoping that was helpful and yet knowing it really wasn’t. “The PCHers are the resident biker gang.”

“Don’t tell me, Mexican types all with leather jackets and tattoos, right?” Mia asked the other girl, though her eyes never left the two cars, and Joel as he made attempts to clean some of the paint off with the sleeve of his jacket, to no avail.

Maddy nodded solemnly, just as a couple of the very bikers she spoke of strode passed laughing heartily at their prank.

“Joel!” Mia yelled at him. “Did you have to play butt-kisser in English class! I told you telling on those guys was a bad idea on our first day!”

“All I did was tell Miss Hudson that I heard two of her students saying they were gonna skip class when she asked where they were!” he complained. “It’s called honesty, Amelia!”

“Yeah, look what honesty did for us today!” she gestured a little crazily at their cars and Maddy glanced between them almost physically wincing every time one yelled at the other.

“Um, guys?” she jumped in when she thought it might just be safe to do so. “I mean, I know it’s not going to solve all your problems but... well, you have to get home somehow, and my sister is right over there,” she said, gesturing across to the edge of the road beyond the parking lot. “You want a ride?” she offered.

Knowing that little or nothing could be done right now and that their parents would go nuts if they were late home their first day at the apparent hell school, Mia and Joel thanked Maddy for her offer and walked with her towards the other car.

* * *

“Hey, y’know it was really cool of you to bring us home like this.” Joel grinned as he hopped out of the car and stared at Maddy’s older sister.

She was exactly how he thought an 09er would look, only older and more womanly. It was all he could do to form a sentence when she’d first spoken to him, and suggestively asked him if he wanted a ride, and how far he wanted to go. Mia had looked less than impressed then and did again now as she grabbed Joel’s arm and pulled him away from the car by his sleeve.

“Yeah, it was real nice of you to help us out, thanks,” she said with a smile, before tuning away.

“Hey, any friend of Maddy’s is... well, a friend of Maddy’s mostly, but I can play nice when I have to.” The older girl grinned, turning her eyes on Joel alone as she added. “Although mostly I’m a very bad girl.”

Joel wasn’t sure how he was still breathing at this point and yet a basic sentence did manage to force its way past his lips.

“Er, you should come inside,” he offered, much to Mia’s surprise, though once he’d extended the offer like that she could hardly take it back, only back him up.

“Yeah, sure.” She faked a smile by now, just wanting to get inside, talk to her parents, and get this whole thing figured out. “Mom will probably have snacks for us, it’s the least we can do after you helped us out today.”

Madeline was quick to accept, and turning her pleading eyes on her sister made her give in too. With an eye-roll, she too agreed to come inside, if only for a cool drink since it was pretty hot out. The suggestion that she put the roof of her convertible up to keep the hot sun off her head only made her laugh and call such an idea ridiculous - she had to keep up her tan, and besides, what was the point having a convertible and having the roof up?

“Mom?” Joel called as they went into the house.

“Be right there, kids!” Veronica yelled back from upstairs. “How was your first day a Neptune High?” she asked as she made her way down into the kitchen where she found the twins and two other girls up on the stools by the breakfast bar.

“It had its ups and downs.” Mia rolled her eyes. “Honestly you won’t believe-” she began only to be cut off by her mother.

“Oh my God!” Veronica gasped, her hand going to her mouth as she faced a young woman she knew only too well.

“Hey.” Maddy’s sister smiled brightly. “I’m Lilly Kane.”

Of course, Veronica already knew that, and the shock of it soon had her in an ungraceful heap on the tiled floor.


	3. Chapter 3

“Mom! Mom!” Mia was in an uncharacteristic panic as she and Joel leant over their mother who was just now coming back to reality from her spot on the kitchen floor.

“Wow.” Veronica blinked hard. “It’s been a while since I did that.” She smiled wryly as her kids helped her to sit up.

“Here, Mrs Echolls,” said a voice she didn’t know as a glass of water was thrust in her face.

“Um, thanks,” she said vaguely to the grinning girl before her as she took the drink and sipped it. “That was so weird. I’m sorry if I scared you, kids,” she said eventually as she got back to her feet, feeling substantially better, if not a little off kilter.

“It’s cool.” Lilly shrugged. “I mean, I’m used to guys falling at my feet, but not so much mothers.” She laughed, as her sister shot her a scathing look.

“Lilly!” Maddy snapped. “This isn’t all about you.”

“Everything always was,” Veronica muttered into her glass, before focusing her eyes back on the young blonde woman across the counter.

She was Lilly alright, and yet she wasn’t the spitting image of her best friend that Veronica remembered. Her features were not quite the same, though her hair was almost the exact same colour and she had very similar eyes. There were elements of other familiar features mixed in with those she though she’d seen in the overly bright kitchen. It was then, as she sat staring, to the point where each and every one of the young people considered asking if she was going to pass out again or something, that everything clicked together in Veronica’s usually much faster paced brain.

“Duncan and Meg,” she said suddenly.

“Who?” Joel echoed, with a suitably confused look on his face.

“Our Dad,” Maddy told him, with a frown. “And Lilly’s Mom.”

“My God, you’re so like your aunt.” Veronica smiled at the young woman who, the last time she’d seen her, had been but a babe in arms.

“Yeah, so Dad says.” Lilly rolled her eyes. “So I guess that explains why you freaked out when you saw me,” she said with a random hand gesture.

“Hold on a sec.” Mia shook his head. “You’re telling me the one friend we managed to make at Neptune High is your old high school friends’ daughter?” she checked, trying to wrap her head around the crazy situation and coincidence she now found here in the middle of.

“It seems that way,” she admitted with a nod. “Except...” she started, not sure she ought to continue as she looked between Lilly and Maddy, after all, there was no telling how much or how little the girls knew about the past.

“My real Mom died right after I was born,” Lilly blurted out, much to Veronica’s relief, since she really did not want to have to tell this story right now. “Dad met Mom... Annabelle, the woman that raised me like a mom, and along came Maddy,” she explained, ruffling her sister’s hair, much to the younger girls disgust.

“Wow,” was all Veronica could find to say in response as she heard of the old lover she hadn’t seen in oh so many years.

Duncan had been her first love, and whilst Logan was her husband and the love of her life, it was still weird to hear about her ex and how he’d moved on. It wasn’t as if she and Duncan had broken up over infidelity or just not loving each other anymore. Their situation was forced upon them by the arrival of Duncan and Meg’s daughter. With her mother gone, the baby had only her father to look after her, and given the fact that the Mannings, known for their abuse of their own children, wanted custody of the baby, Duncan had no choice but to flee with little Lilly, across the border to safety. Clearly the coast had since cleared and he’d returned to Neptune, complete with new wife and second daughter.

Though Veronica knew she shouldn’t, she did feel a little hurt to know Duncan had moved on from her so easily. Obviously she’d moved on to Logan almost just as fast, but that she considered to be different. Duncan’s situation had led to their break up, not hers. With him carrying any blame that had to be dealt, that left Veronica to be the innocent and abandoned party in all this. As much as it shouldn’t matter any more, it still kind of did.

“Dad is gonna go nuts when I tell him I met one of his old school friends.” Lilly giggled. “Um, what was your name back then?”

“Mars,” Veronica said absently, head still spinning a little from this afternoon’s revelations. “Veronica Mars.”

Lilly’s expression changed at the sound of that name, though nobody was really looking at her enough to notice, they were all still a little worried about Veronica.

“C’mon, Mad, we should get lost already,” she said, encouraging Maddy from her seat.

“Oh, yeah, okay.” Her sister smiled. “It was cool meeting you, Mrs Echolls,” she said to the woman, before turning her eyes to her new friends, even as she was being manhandled out of the front door by Lilly. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow!” she called over her shoulder.

The Echolls twins yelled their goodbyes to her retreating form, as Mia took a seat beside her mother, looking concerned still.

“Mom, are you really okay?” she checked. “I’ve never seen you pass out like that before.”

The sound of her daughter’s voice, so full or worry, pulled Veronica from deep thought and she looked between her children, forcing a smile.

“Honestly, kids, I’m fine,” she swore. “It was just kind of shocking to see Lilly.” She shook her head. “You know she was my best friend in high school, the other Lilly, I mean,” she explained. “They look so alike.”

“You never talk about her,” Joel noted. “If you guys were so tight-”

“It’s complicated, honey,” Veronica told him, thinking back to those awful days, finding out about her friends death, spending more than a year suffering for standing by her father, proving eventually that Abel Koontz was innocent, but that the real criminal was none other than Logan’s father, Aaron.

She’d never got into all this with the kids, there never seemed to be a good time, and really there had been little or no point, when the family hadn’t any intention of returning to Neptune. Now Mia and Joel were making friends with Lilly Junior and that was going to lead to some awkwardness. Eventually Veronica was going to come face to face with Duncan and the prospect filled her with a very mixed set of feelings ranging from excitement to abject fear.

“Okay, here’s a definite way to snap you out your daze,” Mia started, with also the exact same expression her father had when he’d done something he knew he shouldn’t.

“What happened?” her mother asked her curiously, and expecting the worst already, from her daughters shifty looks alone.

“Our cars kind of got a little... vandalised,” she explained carefully.

“Vandalised?” Veronica echoed. “How bad?” she checked, glancing from Mia to Joel.

“Kind of a lot,” he admitted, as the blonde sighed and shook her head.

“Welcome back to Neptune, Veronica,” she said to herself, as she reached for the phone.

* * *

“Hey.” Logan smiled as he let himself into the house and found Veronica, curled up alone on the couch with a hot drink in her hands. “I’m sorry I’m so late, you know how Trina likes to talk.” He rolled his eyes.

Though he did love his sister in his own way, she was a little hard to take sometimes. They hadn’t seen much of each other since he and Veronica left Neptune so many years ago. In her own dramatic style, Trina had felt the need to explain the events of her life since then, like it was some kind of TV special. Logan was just glad to have one member of his own family, even an adopted member, that was alive and kicking, and wanted to spend some time with him still. He could hate her for taking his inheritance away from him, but he’d never really been bitter about it. She got the fortune, but he’d got the love of his life, and nobody was going to take that away from him.

“How is she?” Veronica asked a little absently, eyes staring off in the opposite direction for the most part as Logan removed his jacket and came to sit beside her on the couch.

“She’s... Trina,” he said with a radon hand gesture. “Always pleased to see her little brother, if only to have one more person to boast to about her awesome life,” he rolled his eyes, though Veronica barely reacted to anything he said.

“That’s nice.” She nodded vaguely and Logan stared at her.

“So, you’re being weird tonight,” he said simply. “Want to tell me why?”

Veronica looked at her husband then down into her hot chocolate.

“The kids made new friends at school,” she explained, sipping her drink as Logan said that was a good thing and that he was pleased. “They also made enemies of the current PCHer crowd,” she continued, watching his face fall.

“If anybody laid a hand on my kids-” he started, looking angry and somewhat menacing, ready to break some heads.

Veronica put a hand on his arm and calmed him down.

“Nobody did,” she promised him. “A couple of guys just messed with their cars, its totally fixable.”

“That’s not the point, Veronica.” Logan shook his head. “We went through too much of this crap when we were at Neptune High, I’m not letting Mia and Joel suffer the same way.”

“Logan.” She sighed. “Its not that simple. They’re teenagers now, growing up fast, you have to let them deal,” she reminded him. “Of course we’re not going to let them just get hurt or whatever, but we all have to make our own mistakes.”

“I certainly made enough,” he recalled. “The biggest one was almost losing you,” he said, staring across at her as they both leant back into the couch cushions.

“That was never going to happen, not really.” She shook her head, though back in the day, it had certainly looked like she and Logan were over for good, on more than one occasion.

Veronica had considered Duncan to be her soulmate for the longest time. In the beginning, it had never once occurred to her that Logan could ever be the man of her dreams. Now she couldn’t imagine her situation being any other way than as it was.

“You say the sweetest things, Miss Mars.” He smirked, her old name coming easily from his lips, though he hadn’t used it in so many years.

Maybe it was being back in Neptune that did it, being reminded of times past, the young and innocent days... though perhaps innocent was pushing it a little.

“Why do I think the local bikers messing with the twins isn’t the only thing on your mind?” he asked then, as he put a hand to her face and she dipped her eyes; something wasn’t right here, not at all.

“You know me too well, Logan Echolls.” She smiled as she moved to put her almost empty mug onto the coffee table and then snuggled up next to her husband. “The kids made a couple of new friends today,” she explained. “Nice girls, but then they would be. Logan, they’re Duncan’s daughters.”

“Duncan?” he gasped, stunned by the sound of his old friends name.

They hadn’t exactly parted on the best of terms, since Veronica had broken things off with Logan, only to get back together with her ex. Okay, so after the young Mr Kane was forced to flee Neptune with his baby daughter, courtesy of the late Meg Manning, Veronica had ended up back in Logan’s arms, but it didn’t change the fact she’d once picked Duncan over her now-husband, or that the two old friends hadn’t seen each other in so many years since they turned enemies and love rivals.

“I had no idea he was back in Neptune.” Veronica shook her head slightly against her husbands chest. “And Lilly has grown up so... well, so like our Lilly,” she explained.

“Wow.” Logan expelled a breath, feeling a little overwhelmed. “Let's hope she doesn’t have her aunt’s bad habits,” he said, his meaning very clear and Veronica knew she couldn’t snap at him for such a comment, after all, she’d thought almost the exact same thing.

“He has a wife now, and another daughter,” Veronica told her husband. “It feels kind of strange knowing he’s back here... but then I guess any number of people we used to know could still be around, or could’ve come back like we did.”

“I guess.” Logan nodded, hardly hearing her as his mind stuck on the news of Duncan being around.

Twenty years down the road, and crazy as he knew he was being, Logan hated the thought that Veronica might see her ex again. They’d been married so long now, got two beautiful kids, and the same could apparently be said about Duncan. Unfortunately, it didn’t change the teenage boy jealously that bubbled somewhere deep inside Logan, as he hugged his wife to him, kissed the top of her head, and told her just how much he loved her. He was sure she would’ve said it back, he knew she would, but she was suddenly fast asleep in his arms.


	4. Chapter 4

“Yes, I understand that Principal Johnson,” Veronica was saying into the phone as Logan came down into the kitchen, yawning his head off. “I completely agree with you, but unfortunately its a little too late now to get the cars are out of the school lot before the students arrive.” She rolled her eyes as her husband looked across at her, sitting down on a stool by the breakfast bar with a smirk. “Okay, yes. I will, thank you.” His wife eventually rang off and put down the phone with a thump.

“So, good morning so far?” Logan asked her with a playful smile as he poured himself a coffee.

“The best,” his wife replied, sarcasm evident in her tone. “That, as you may have guessed, was Principal Johnson on the phone,” she explained as she sat down opposite him, and thanking him for the coffee he passed to her. “Turns out that nice reliable garage I called to tow the kids cars and fix them up never showed last night, and he’s having a complete breakdown over students, parents, and faculty members seeing that kind of vandalism... again.”

“And you didn’t point out to him that it was his precious students that caused the damage everyone in town is staring at?” Logan challenged her, finding it strange that Veronica backed down from an argument in which she knew she was right.

“I did.” She nodded once. “ut apparently ‘boys will be boys’ and perhaps my children ‘should be a little more careful about who they make enemies of’,” she quoted, shaking her head. “At this point, I almost wish Mr Clemmons was still running the show.”

“At least that guy knew what punishment was.” Logan gesticulated with the butter knife as he grabbed himself some toast. “Y’know back when we were in high school-”

“Oh no, wait a second, Joel,” Mia said dramatically as she arrived in the kitchen doorway with here brother, who’s entrance she blocked with her arm. “I think Mom and Dad are having another flashback,” she said putting her hand over her heart and looking far too much like Aunt Trina, despite having barely met the woman.

“You just know it's going to end with goo-goo eyes and counter macking when they start with the ‘back in the old days’ stories,” Joel agreed with a distasteful look, before both of them broke into laughter and came into the room.

“Are these really our kids?” Logan asked his wife with an over-dramatised sigh.

“I’m afraid so, darling,” Veronica told him, covering his hand with hers on the counter. “I can tell because they have your awful sense of humour.” She giggled as she leant in to briefly kiss his lips, before disappearing from the kitchen with a grin on her face.

“So, looks like you lucky kids get to ride into school with good old Dad today,” Logan told them as they helped themselves to breakfast.

Despite the fact they were kind of embarrassed about the whole thing both Mia and Joel painted on smiles and thanked their Dad for the favour. Any mode of trasportation was preferable to walking, after all, they were teenagers! They weren’t even embarrassed by their Dad being old or weird or anything, since he looked pretty good for his age and all. Unfortunately, despite being out of the public eye most of the time, Logan Echolls was still known by sight and name to a lot of woman his age and some girls the kids age too. Mia and Joel’s own worry was a mob situation in the school parking lot. After yesterdays issues, the last thing they wanted was to draw attention to themselves. It seemed as though they may not have much of a choice in that department, not this time.

* * *

Veronica waved to her husband and kids with one hand as they left for Neptune High, her other hand taken up by the phone held to her ear as she tried calling the garage again. Last night she had been assured that Mia and Joel’s cars would be picked up from the school lot, towed to the garage, and fixed up by the end of the day for a semi-reasonable fee. If Principal Johnson was to be believed, they never showed, and now Veronica was just pissed. Clearly whoever should be taking her call right now wasn’t going to bother, and in moments she had quite decided to take her business elsewhere.

Though she was never one to shy away from any possible confrontation, Veronica was soon pulling on her boots and jacket, before jumping into her car and driving towards what she assumed was still referred to by most as the bad side of town. The little blonde had never been racist or in any way prejudice against the poorer people in town. She herself was nowhere near to 09er status and even though she married a man that used to be part of that crowd, they were not the millionaires that they might have been. That was all beside the point, Veronica had plenty of friends, both black and Hispanic, as well from both ends of the money-having spectrum.

As she drove over to a place she had frequented many a time as a teen, Veronica thought of one particular boy from the wrong side of the tracks that she hadn’t seen in years. Eli Navarro, more commonly known as ‘Weevil’ in his youth, where he was now, she wouldn’t even like to contemplate. Prison was likely, or worse.

Veronica was brought from her hazy picture of the past by a guy in the car behind honking his horn because the light had changed to green and she had yet to make a move. Giving him a friendly wave and a faked smile, Veronica pulled away, drove on down the street and around the corner, then onwards to the body shop her friend’s uncle used to own.

It was really more of a junkyard than any type of garage when you looked at it, Veronica realised. It would probably have been safer to find a place on her own whiter, slightly richer side of town, but this was where she’d always come and she’d done so today without thinking despite the fact she was now an outsider in this place. Back in the day, she’d been a friend of a friend via Weevil, now she just another white blonde woman that these Mexican mechanic types thought only good for one thing.

“This may have been a big mistake,” she said to herself as she considered whether getting out of the car or not was a good plan.

Before she had a chance to make that decision, Veronica spotted a figure in her side mirror and suddenly there was a young man standing beside her in grease stained overalls with an engine part in one hand and an oily rag in the other.

“Hey, pretty lady,” he said with a smile that made her queasy. “You here to get your body the full service treatment?” he asked her with a suggestive look that made her wince on the inside.

On the outside of course, Veronica smiled brightly as if she were less than bothered by his comments to her. She never did let those around her see what she was feeling, especially if it was fear or some other such emotion that criminals and bad people preyed on. This was just some punk she could have in a headlock inside three seconds if she had to, but it never stopped her being uncomfortable with guys making such comments to her, especially as she got older and as such slightly more vulnerable.

“You really want to try this with me, junior?” Veronica asked the boy who didn’t look much older then her own son.

“Hey, just ‘cause I’m younger, don’t mean I don’t know what I’m doin’, baby,” he told her with a wink as Veronica smiled, more in amusement at his terrible attempts to woo her than anything else.

“You know what?” she said in a voice much softer than usual as she gestured for him to come closer, and he leant on the side of the car, breathing the scent of too many cigarettes all over her. “If I wanted to play games,” she said with a smile. “I’d’ve stayed home with my kids and a Monopoly board,” she said sweetly, before continuing. “And if you make one more suggestive comment to me I’ll have you flat on your back before you can even say ‘Esca-laid’,” she said, her anger breaking through the fake sweetness as she continued. “And I don’t mean in the fun way either.”

“Damn you, bitch!” he snapped as he stood straight and glared at her.

So much for some hot young woman from the rich side of town. She was clearly now older and angrier than he’d suspected and his pride was a little hurt that she’d dare turn him down. His friends had told him the older woman were often more eager for sex, since their husbands were usually on business trips, leaving them all lonely and stuff. Clearly this, his first attempt to reel in such a woman, had been a bust, and it didn’t please him. His anger came out of embarrassment, Veronica knew that, and though she might have felt almost bad for him for a split second, that all changed the second he started insulting her.

“Like I’d want to touch you, man!” he exclaimed, backing up a step from the car. “I just thought you might be desperate and-”

“Yo, Paco! Tenga cierto respecto!” an older voice snapped at the boy who turned sharply, looking shame-faced.

“Si, tio,” he muttered, before practically running away as the older man continued to yell behind him in Spanish that Veronica only understood half of, still, she would bet from his tone that whatever the other half was she was better off not knowing.

With the sun bouncing off the metal and glass of cars all around, Veronica and the guy that was apparently Paco’s uncle couldn’t see much of each other until they met in the middle between where he’d been standing and she’d been sitting in her car. When they came face to face, they managed to speak over each other before both stopping in shock.

“Thank you, but I-” she started.

“I’m sorry about Paco, he-” he said right over the top, before they both took in the sight of each other and smiled in pleasant surprise.

“Oh my God,” Veronica gasped. “Weevil?”

“Veronica Mars.” He shook his head in surprise, as his eyes took in the face and body of the woman his little blonde friend had become. “Come here, give me some love,” he said as the two old friends hugged each other.

For a minute it was as if nothing had changed. He was the same old Weevil as far as Veronica could tell, right down to the leather jacket he wore that could easily be the same one from twenty years ago. He didn’t even seem to have aged that much and his strong arms around her felt just as reassuringly safe as they ever had, in spite of the reputation he’d always held onto.

“I had no idea you were still in Neptune,” she told him when they parted and looked at each other once again.

“Hey, same goes, V.” He shrugged. “When’d you get back here?” he asked her seriously, knowing as he did that she’d left almost twenty years ago now, and yet never forgetting her.

She’d bailed him out of juvy and then jail one too many times to be just another girl he’d once known. She was special, always had been and always would be, though their friendship had only ever been that, never anything romantic or sexual.

“We got back a couple of days ago,” Veronica explained. “It's easier to move around a lot in my kind of work, and Logan’s company were opening a new branch back home in good old Neptune so... we figured it was time to face the old town again.”

Weevil took in her smiling face and almost couldn’t believe how much she really hadn’t changed. Same old Veronica Mars, though it was too many years since high school now, and she was married with kids and a career in that detective mojo she worked so well.

“Damn girl, you ain’t aged a day since we stood on this same spot and you told me you was leavin’ town,” he told her as Veronica rolled her eyes.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but do you need to put on some glasses or whatever?” she said, with accompanying eyeroll.

“You never could just take a damn compliment,” he told her with a shake of his head. “Seriously, V, you look good. Hell, if you weren’t married,” he told her with a wink, and a far more innocent look than the boy who was apparently his nephew had used on her.

“If that’s your less than subtle way of telling me you still don’t approve of my marriage to Logan,” she said with a warning tone since she really didn’t want to have this talk again.

Weevil had never understood the attraction between his friend the Sheriff’s daughter, and the movie stars’ son, who as far as he could see loved himself too much to ever really care for Veronica. They’d fought about it, as she had with Wallace too. In the end, the guys just wanted their friend to be happy and tried to support her decision to marry the man she adored. It didn’t mean either of them were overly happy about it even now.

“Hey, I ain’t ever gonna like the rich white boys, no matter who they are, or who they end up calling their honey.” Weevil shrugged his shoulders. “But if you and Echolls are still tight after all this time, I guess I gotta hand it to him, he ain’t as stupid as I thought if he kept a hold of you this long.”

“I’m sure he’d be flattered to know you approve,” Veronica joked, before remembering why she’d come here in the first place as Weevil asked why she’d be on his side of the tracks if it wasn’t to visit him.

As she explained about her kids and their car trouble, her friends’ face hardened. That kind of vandalism sounded like the work of people he knew, kids from the new generation of the biker gang he’d once ruled himself. Though Veronica didn’t actually say it was likely to be PCHers that caused the damage, he knew anyway.

“Its cool, V.” He nodded once, as he glanced around the yard at his shifty looking workforce. “I’ll get my boys to pick up the cars, fix ‘em up good, and get ‘em back to you before your kids are even done with the school day.”

“Seriously, Weevil, that would be amazing,” she said gratefully, before realising something. “Hold on a sec, your boys?” she questioned. “You run this place now?”

“Well, just 'cause some of us ain’t got so far up in the world to travel don’t mean the direction ain’t the same,” he told her with a smile as she thanked him again for his help and moved to get back in her car.

“I’m sorry, I have to run,” she apologised for cutting short their reunion, “but we should meet sometime, catch up properly,” she told him, suddenly rifling in her purse and pulling out a card which she scribbled on. “That has my cell and my address is on the back,” she told him as she handed it over.

“That’s cool.” He nodded as he forced it into his pocket. “I’ll see you later, Veronica Mars,” he said as she started up the car and made to leave.

“That’s Veronica Echolls now,” she corrected him with a flash of the wedding band on her finger, and a look because they both knew that he knew that anyway.

“Only on paper,” Weevil said to himself as he watched her drive away. “Same old Veronica Mars on the inside.”


	5. Chapter 5

“So then my dad said that he used to date your Mom.” Maddy giggled over lunch with Mia and Joel. “How freakish is that?” she exclaimed though apparently she found it more amusing than disturbing.

“It’s pretty weird, I guess,” Mia agreed, wishing they could talk about something else now.

Unfortunately when Miss Echolls’ wish was answered she immediately wanted to retract it. Though she had no objection at all to the sight of the Adonis that was Maddy’s friend Adam appearing at the table, she wasn’t so keen on the group of 09er friends he brought with him, or the questions they eventually asked.

“Hey, you guys are Logan Echolls kids, right?” Adam checked and Mia nodded her head as Joel answered.

“Yeah, he’s our dad,” he agreed, a pointless statement really, since all that was required was the ‘yes’ part.

“Dude! That rocks!” The blonde grinned, as two of the 09er girls behind him sat down at the table so fast, Mia thought the whole thing was going to tip over with the force of them suddenly scrambling into the seats opposite.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe we haven’t been introduced,” one of the apparent bimbos enthused. “I’m Karen Kaplinsky, this is Jody Roberts. We totally love your dad!” She giggled madly, though not in that nice friendly way that Maddy did, Mia noted.

Karen had a laugh that could cut glass, and was practically posing as if she were in a photoshoot as she faced Joel and held out a hand for him to shake. Jody was leaning so far over the table, and wearing such a tight and revealing T-shirt, Mia was sure she could see her toes from here despite the fact she was making a conscious effort to look elsewhere.

“How can you love our Dad?” Joel frowned. “Do you know him?”

“Duh!” Jody giggled. “Everybody knows who Logan Echolls is! Especially in Neptune, he’s like a total celebrity!” she enthused, as Mia winced once again at the laughter than cut right through her.

Question upon question came about her Dad, her parents marriage, their whole family life. Whilst nothing was exactly embarrassing or awkward to have to share, Mia still didn’t like the idea of giving her life history to the world, and whilst Joel silently craved attention, especially from girls, he was a little too shy to be sharing so much with so many.

Mia tried to tell the crowd of 09ers that she had to go, but they were insistent she stay, and just as soon as Adam encouraged her to remain in her seat, she found she couldn’t say no. Damn, but he was hot, and whilst she had her mother’s brains and common sense enough to know that looks did not a good person make, it didn’t stop her seeing how hot he was. She’d bet a months allowance he could do like a hundred push ups without even trying. He could probably do something really cool too like surf or re-build engines, something really impressive.

“Hey, Mad,” said Adam as he forced himself in between Maddy and Mia on the bench. “You get that math homework figured out?” he checked, practically whispering his question.

Mia figured it was probably uncool for 09ers to care about their studies or whatever, but she was so distracted by the good looks of the young man beside her that she barely thought about that right now.

“Mostly, yeah.” Maddy nodded. “Thanks again for last night. You’d think Lilly would be some help but I think she partied her way through Calculus.” She rolled her eyes as Mia tried to concentrate on what was being said and not just Adam’s eyes and body.

It was almost as if Madeleine had asked Adam for homework help, which seemed a little weird. After all, how many people were blessed with such hotness and brains too?

“No problem, babe,” Adam told Maddy with a wink as he turned to Mia. “So, how’s school so far for the daughter of the loved and adored?” he asked her with a nod towards Joel and the girls that surrounded him, all full of questions.

“It's okay.” She nodded, feeling a little overwhelmed by him, in spite of the fact she was usually very much her mothers daughter, all sarcastic wit and an answer foreverything. “The people seem nice enough.” She smiled and Adam chuckled.

“Yeah, well, y’know we’re destined to be good buddies, right?” he told her, off Mia’s blank look he added. “Our parents hung out back in the day, man,” he explained. “Your dad and my dad were pretty tight, and your mom and my mom hung out a lot too. They didn’t tell you?” he asked before snapping his fingers in realisation. “Oh yeah, my dad said your folks left town before mine got serious,” he remembered.

“Okay,” Mia said, feeling a little lost.

Her parents didn’t really talk much about Neptune in any sense, other than about Grandpa Mars. Their high school experiences were not discussed overly much, and the people in particular were not mentioned. Suddenly all these people were telling her their parents were interlinked with her own and it was making her head spin. It was then Mia realised she hadn’t even learned Adam’s last name yet, and as such was even less likely to know who the parents of this cross between Einstein and Adonis were.

“He’s Adam Casablancas,” Maddy explained, as the boy in question was suddenly summoned by his friends and he went running off across the quad with a muttered apology and goodbye. “His parents graduated Neptune with my dad and your parents, I guess.” She shrugged

“Casablancas?” Mia echoed the name as she rolled it around in her head.

It was vaguely familiar but she couldn’t have said why. Presumably Adam’s father had been mentioned somewhere along the line, but she’d obviously never met the guy, and apparently not even her parents knew who he was married to these days.

When the bell finally rang signalling the end of lunch, Mia had to remove her brother from a lesser crowd of girls who had apparently found that Logan Echolls son was far less impressive than his confident and photogenic Dad. Whilst Joel was sweet and far from ugly, he wasn’t what the girls really wanted and his shyness sometimes made him appear a little abrupt, Mia knew.

Maddy seemed overly pleased when she got a few moments alone with the twins again, moreso the male than the female, as she grinned at him. Clearly something was happening there, an attraction that was perhaps somewhat one-sided right now, Mia realised, but she wasn’t about to get involved in her brother’s lack of love-life - it was more than her life was worth!

* * *

“Do you ever get that feeling like you’re being watched?” Logan asked with a smirk as Mia and Joel climbed into the back of the car after school, a group of three girls staring quite obviously across the parking lot at them.

“Apparently you’re a celebrity, Dad,” Mia told him.

“Yeah, these girls were way into hearing all about you,” Joel added as they strapped themselves in.

“Well, I guess it’s good to know the old man still has it.” Logan laughed lightly. “Besides, if it’s helping you guys make friends, that just makes me a good dad, right?” he said, before pulling the car away from the kerb and sparing a brief wave for the teens that would watch his every move.

Making young women swoon, he thought he’d passed that stage long ago, but clearly his reputation proceeded him back home in Neptune. Not that he minded at all, it was always flattering to have fans, but Logan was very different to his own father. Whilst Aaron had taken advantage of those who adored him, and cheated on his wife at every opportunity, Logan never did. He was faithful to Veronica and knew he always would be, after all, she was all he ever wanted or needed in life.

“Oh, by the way, Dad, there’s this guy in school, he said you and his dad were like BFF in high school,” Mia suddenly piped up, as Logan frowned.

“I thought we covered the Duncan angle last night, sweetheart?” he said, knowing that back in the day he had considered the Kane boy to be his most trusted friend, almost like a brother, at least until the betrayal regarding Veronica.

“This is somebody else. Adam Casablancas?” she said the name, hoping it meant something to him. “He said his dad knew you, and Mom was friends with his mom too.”

“My God,” Logan almost crashed the car as he took in the concept of Dick being married with children, he never once considered that such a man would settle down, and pretty easily too it seemed since he had a kid the same age as the twins.

As for the woman in Dick’s life, Logan could not think who that might be. He’d dated Madison for the longest time, but she was never a friend of Veronica’s, far from it in fact. The only true friends she had through high school were Lilly who was long gone and Wallace who really didn’t fit the mould of Dick’s wife. The very thought of it made Logan laugh a little too much! He was still considering who the mystery woman might be as he pulled his car onto the drive and got out.

“I thought our cars were supposed to be back here now?” Joel frowned when he found the space empty where his and Mia’s cars ought to be parked.

“That’s what your mother said the garage told her but you know how unreliable some of these tradesmen can be.” Their father rolled his eyes.

“I know you ain’t meaning to talk trash about me, Echolls,” said a voice behind him and Logan was stunned when he spun around and found his wife standing behind him now, with a familiar man by her side.

“What’s up, Weev?” He grinned, every inch the annoying jackass he once was in high school. “Long time, no rumble,” he joked, as the Mexican smirked back at him.

“Oh how I’ve missed the charming banter between you two.” Veronica smiled overly much, her sarcasm evident as the kids looked between their Dad and the mystery man.

“So this must be Amelia and Joel,” said Weevil, recognising them from the pictures Veronica had been showing him for the past hour.

“Kids, this is Eli Navarro,” she introduced him. “He was a friend of ours back in high school.”

Logan scoffed at that particular phrasing, making it evident that whilst Weevil may have been a friend of Veronica, he was never really a friend of his, even if they had been forced to work together against a common foe once or twice.

“I’m also the guy that got your cars fixed up,” Weevil explained. “And yeah, they should’ve been here before now but I had to wait for my helpful assistants to get out of school and bring them over here,” he said, suddenly gesturing to the street as two younger Mexican guys approached, driving Mia and Joel’s vehicles.

Though she was unphased by the whole situation, her brother was clearly not amused to realise who the two drivers were. These were the guy that he’d snitched on to the teacher, the two that were most likely guilty of trashing the cars in the first place. He was practically hiding behind his family as the two young men parked the cars, got out, and came over to the assembled group of people.

“This is Marco and Antonio, nephews of mine,” he explained. “And they got something they need to say to you.”

“We’re sorry we trashed your cars,” one said, as the other nodded solemnly, both of them only looking up from the ground just enough to glance at Weevil and see how mad he was at them still.

“These are the little-” Logan began but Veronica cut him off, giving him a look that asked him to let it go, which he did.

“They ain’t all bad, they just got carried away is all,” Weevil assured both Veronica and Logan. “Now, I know you could call the law of them, or let the school punish them, but I can do better than that. You know it,” he said, glancing between the blonde and her husband, who shared a look as they considered their options.

It was true that Weevil did know how to dole out punishment, Logan could attest to that, along with Veronica’s old best friend, Wallace, and various other former students of Neptune High.

“Okay.” She nodded eventually. “I think we can trust you to make sure these charming young men don’t ever, ever mess around with other people’s property again,” she said pointedly to the two boys who actually had the good grace to look a little nervous at her sharp tone.

Logan would have liked to have argued the point, but he knew just the same as his wife did that the best way to teach these boys a lesson was to let Weevil do it. It seemed he was going to start by hitting them in the pocket too.

“How much did it cost to fix up our cars, Mr Navarro?” Mia asked politely and Weevil couldn’t help but smirk at how formal she was.

He was Weevil amongst the guys in the street, and Eli to a few close friends and family. Mr Navarro was not a name he often heard, unless he was getting arrested.

“To you, little lady, it don’t cost nothin’, to neither of you nor your folks,” he assured both Mia and Joel. “These two will be paying me for the damage they did, and in more ways than one, you got that?” he asked Marco and Antonio who duly nodded, before being dismissed from their uncle’s sight.

“We should get inside,” said Logan then, realising it was a little awkward with them all standing in the driveway staring at each other. “Come on, kids. Mom must have been shopping by now, let’s raid the fridge,” he said with a playful smirk, kissing his wife’s cheek as he moved past her into the house with Mia and Joel following him.

“Nice kids,” Weevil told Veronica when they were left alone. “Shame about the old man,” he said with a look and she just rolled her eyes, not even bothering to respond to his semi-joke.

“Y’know if we’re not paying you for the cars you should at least let us do something,” she told him. “Maybe you could come have dinner with us some night soon?” she checked. “You could bring your wife or girlfriend?” she suggested, trying not to sound like she was prying for info and failing miserable which made him smile.

“There is no other half, V,” Weevil told her, shaking his head. “I guess I never met the right girl, y’know?”

The look in his eye suggested to Veronica that it wasn’t so much he’d never met her as he had but he’d lost her. Lilly had meant so much more to him than anyone would ever know.

“So just one extra place for dinner?” Veronica pressed. “Maybe this Saturday?”

“Maybe.” Weevil nodded. “I’ll call you,” he said as he backed away down the path and eventually left.

Veronica watched him go and sighed. Inside the house, she could hear the laughter and fun of her family and as happy as it made her, it made her feel worse for Weevil. As much as her loved ones occasionally drove her nuts, she wouldn’t trade them for the world. She couldn’t imagine being without them.

“Hey, you gonna stand there all day?” Logan asked as he appeared, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind.

“I was just thinking,” Veronica told him, as she leaned back against his chest. “About how much I love you.” She smiled, turning in his arms and pushing the front door closed at the same time.

“Well, that works out real well,” Logan told her as he held her waist and her arms slid up around his neck, “ecause I love you too,” he promised her, like he had everyday for years now, and Veronica never tired of hearing it.


	6. Chapter 6

“What you got there?” Veronica asked as she climbed into bed beside her husband.

“Year book,” he told her simply as he studied the page, turning over then to look at the next. “Mia was telling me about some guy she met at school. Get this, Dick spawned a child,” he told his wife with a look that grew more and more amused as Veronica’s eyes went comically wide.

“Like a legitimate child?” she checked, almost unable to get her head around the concept of him being a one woman man now.

“Apparently.” Logan chuckled. “But I’m a little confused about this particular child’s mother,” he admitted, balancing the book on his knees with one hand now as his wife moved in closer to see and he put his arm around her shoulders. “Would you believe the mystery woman is supposed to have been a good friend of yours?”

“Me?” the blonde looked puzzled. “Um, hold on a second, I was the loner with like no friends for the latter part of high school, right?” she checked pointlessly. “Or am I suddenly in somebody else’s life?”

“And that is why...” said Logan, lifting the year book up for her to see. “Mystery Mom has to be in here somewhere, maybe even pictured with her good friend Veronica Mars,” he suggested as they both looked at the page.

Veronica’s mind raced through names and faces, but no-one seemed a suitable match for the description – a friend of hers who would eventually end up married to Dick? It was too freakish for words!

It was just then, as Logan turned the page that Veronica realised what the only answer could be, and yet she could scarce believe her own thought process.

“No way,” she said, sharing a look with Logan who had clearly spotted the same photo she had and had the exact same thought.

“She is just about the only candidate we have.” He shrugged, tapping his finger over the picture on the page.

Underneath the photograph, the words spelled out a name that was scarcely if ever heard during all their years at Neptune High, mostly because its owner hated it – Cindy Mackenzie.

* * *

“Adam for the last time!” Mac yelled at her son as she strode over to him with her daughter trailing behind. “For the final time, do not bother your sister whilst she’s doing her homework,” she told him sternly. “And do not give me the ‘I was trying to help’ excuse, because I know you better than that,” she snapped as Adam looked appropriately shame-faced at his mother berating him.

It didn’t matter that he was a foot taller than her, he didn’t dare argue, anymore than his father would. Behind Mac, Josie stuck out her tongue at her older brother, only brave because her Mom was there. She had Mac’s shyness despite sharing most of her fathers cute looks and blonde hair.

“Yeah, real mature, Josie,” Adam muttered as Mac walked away and though the fifteen year old knew he was right, she didn’t care.

As the pair slammed off to their respective bedrooms, Mac put a hand to her head that ached already and went back to her laptop to finish off the work she should’ve had done hours ago. Though she had no need for a job or vocation in life given her husbands fortune, she just couldn’t keep away from work. She had to have something that was hers. She wouldn’t just be housewife and mother, she was far too independent for that now. Still, no matter how much she loved what she did, Mac often felt like smacking her head on the keyboard and giving in when she was up to her eyes in programming and design issues.

She was seconds away from meltdown when Dick got home and found her half-slumped on the kitchen counter staring at codes and symbols that meant less than nothing to him.

“Hey, babe,” he greeted her with a smile and a kiss. “Rough day?”

“That’s one way of putting it.” She sighed, as she moved off the stool and into his arms. “Between the kids fighting and slamming doors, and this project that just will not end, I think my head is going to explode,” she said as he hugged her and she buried her face in his shirt.

“Yeah, I vote for your head to stay in one pretty piece,” he said, making her chuckle, the first glimpse of a smile or laughter that had come out of her all day.

“That would be a whole lot easier to achieve if I had you around all day to take care of me,” she said dreamily as he held her in his arms and kissed the topped of her aching head.

“Hey, even with the looks and money I have, I still have to show my face in the boardroom once in a while,” he told her, though of course she already knew that. “Of course, you don’t have to deal with this crap if you don’t want,” he said, gesturing vaguely towards her computer with one hand and immediately regretting the words and action as Mac moved out from under the one arm that was still holding her and looked peeved to say the least.

“Dick, do not start with that again,” she urged him. “You know my job means a lot to me, however much it bugs me sometimes,” she reminded him, an angry edge to her voice. “I didn’t need your help to get Jake Kane to hire me, and I don’t need you making stupid suggestions about my giving it up either.”

“Hey, easy, babe, it was just a suggestion.” Dick backed up a step with his hands held up in surrender, as Mac shut the lid to her laptop and moved it off the counter. “Hell, if this is what I get for trying to help-”

“But you’re not trying to help me, Dick,” she pointed out as she moved through to the living room, her husband following her. “You’re helping you. None of your friends’ wives work, and my working bothers you, I know that, and I’m sorry, but I can’t be some kept woman.”

Dick sighed. He knew she was independent when they got together, it was one of the things that most attracted him to her. She had more good sense and a way bigger brain than he could ever hope for, but she was always sweet about it, and never seemed to put anyone down, unless they started with her first, then she was a force to be reckoned with. 

She was as right now as she always was, of course. It was a little embarrassing that his wife worked when he was quite capable of keeping her and the kids with ease. It brought on comments from his friends, and their wives, about how Mac wore the pants in the Casablancas house instead of him, or how perhaps they didn’t have quite as much wealth as they pretended too. Dick put up with all that though, just to keep his wife happy. They may not have got together in the most conventional of ways, having met via his criminal brother and getting together sometime after Beaver had thrown himself off a building, but they loved each other as much as any couple ever could.

“Hey.” Dick sighed as he sat down beside Mac on the couch where she was perched with her face in her hands, her headache really kicking in now. “I’m sorry,” he apologised sincerely. “How about you go run yourself a bath, I’ll get you some aspirin for your head and I’ll prove to you how sorry I am,” he told her with a suggestive look as she glanced up at him.

If nothing else it seemed he’d succeeded in making her smile, and that was all he ever wanted to do.

* * *

“Seriously, Mad, what gives?” her sister Lilly bugged her as she finished off her homework. “I haven’t seen you smile this much since that dumb boy-band you like reunited a couple of years ago,” she pointed out, from her position lying sideways across an armchair with her feet hooked over the arm.

“It’s nothing,” said Madeleine awkwardly as she pushed her books back into her bag and then turned to face Lilly. “What?” she asked as her sister continued to stare with an unconvinced expression on her face.

“It’s a guy isn’t it?” Lilly suddenly gasped as she scrambled to an upright position in the chair. “Oh my God, Maddy has a secret crush!” she enthused.

It was kind of exciting, even for the twenty-one year old who really ought to be over the whole teen girl crush thing. She sometimes acted even younger than her little half-sister, but Maddy didn’t mind that. It was just cool when Lilly had time for her, too often she was distracted by men and partying, or fighting with their Dad over the same topics!

“Maddy has a what now?” asked Duncan as he came into the room, having only just arrived home after a hard day at the office.

“Hey, Dad,” Madeline greeted her father with a grin and a quick hug. “It’s late, we should go to bed,” she said, gesturing to Lilly with a dramatic arm gesture as well as a shift of her eyes that said she didn’t want to do this in front of him!

“Maybe it’s late for you, little sister.” Lilly laughed. “Not for me,” she pointed out, jumping up to face her father. “Hey, Dad, Maddy has a secret crush,” she said quickly, as Maddy turned away looking highly embarrassed though she was smiling anyway.

She couldn’t really be mad at Lilly for telling and at seventeen she ought not have been so ashamed. It was perfectly normal for teenagers to have crushes, even to have boyfriends and go on dates, but Maddy just wasn’t one of those people, at least not yet. She really wasn’t popular enough to have been on many dates, in fact, so far she hadn’t had a real one. If she could have a wish come true it would be for Joel to ask her out sometime, and to fall in love with her, so the two of them could live happily ever after. Still, she didn’t really love the idea of having to explain all that to her parents.

“Good Lord, seems like both my girls are really growing up.” Duncan smiled at the both of them. “So, Maddy, who’s the lucky guy that’s got your attention? Anyone I’d know?” he checked.

“I’ll bet I do.” Lilly grinned even more as she bounced around like a little kid on a sugar high as was her way.

“I’ll bet you don’t,” Maddy shot back at her, though she knew that was crap.

Lilly knew about boys, and relationships, and crushes. She was the best at guessing who liked who and which couples would work or not. From high school boyfriends and girlfriends, to celebrity marriages, she had a gift where this love stuff was concerned or so Maddy always thought.

“Oh right!” Lilly laughed. “Madeline Kane, look me in the eye and tell me your crush is not Joel Echolls!” she challenged, and Maddy couldn’t even form a sentence to look up from the carpet long enough to protest.

Her father was not similarly afflicted.

“Joel Echolls?” he said, maybe a little too sharply. “Veronica and Logan’s son?”

Duncan was by no means pleased to hear that his little girls first big love was for this particular boy. As if his family had not already been entangled enough with both the Echolls and Mars families! Still, it wasn’t as if he could ban his daughter from seeing Joel, he and his sister had done nothing wrong at this point. Hell, if anyone was in the wrong it was Duncan himself. He was the one that had run out on Veronica and left her to fall into the arms of his good friend. It was his sister that had cheated on Logan with his father, Aaron, which had led to her murder. Then it was down to Duncan to give the instruction and have Lilly’s killer, Logan’s father, executed by Clarence Weidman.

Duncan’s head soon filled with too many thoughts all over-running each other, and his daughters’ constant chattering and bickering in the background didn’t help matters. His hands went to the sides of his head, fingers mashing at his temples til he really couldn’t take it anymore.

“Shut up!” he yelled so loudly that Maddy and Lilly both physically jumped at the sound. “Just go to your rooms and shut up!” he said, just as forcefully, sending his younger daughter scurrying away at speed and the other stalking off in a similar direction, though she spared a moment to shoot daggers at her father with her eyes.

“What on Earth is going on?” Annabelle asked as she appeared from the kitchen, meeting the girls half way between there and the living room.

“Dad is freaking out for like no reason." Lilly rolled her eyes. “I guess it was a worse day at the office than usual,” she said, before giving the only mother she’d ever known a peck on the cheek and saying goodnight as she went off to her room.

Annabelle frowned as she looked towards the living room where her husband sat. He didn’t lose his temper so easily, not unless he forgot to take his meds, and that was why he was always so careful, they both were, to make sure he never forgot. A bad day at the office rarely sparked yelling, especially not at the girls, and that worried her. Whatever had happened to him today was worse than just a bad business deal or a parking ticket.

“I’m sorry,” said Duncan, immediately his wife appeared in the doorway. “I didn’t mean to yell at them, it’s not their fault,” he said, looking her way, with a sadness and confusion in his eyes that Annabelle hadn’t seen in years.

Without a word she simply nodded and moved to come sit beside him.

“Talk to me, Duncan,” she urged him. “What’s the matter?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, with shake of his head. “It’s just... the girls mentioned Logan and Veronica,” he told her, a sigh escaping before he continued. “It just brings back a lot of stuff that would be easier to forget,” he told her as she nodded in understanding and hugged him in comfort.

Out of his sight, the understanding smile slipped from Annabelle face. She’d been dreading the day when Veronica Mars came back to Neptune and into their lives. Though she’d never met the woman she felt like she knew everything about her. She certainly knew how close Duncan had been to her once, even closer than to the mother of his first daughter, the dearly departed, Meg Manning. Though Annabelle knew her husband loved her completely and sincerely, she also knew that nobody in his life had never and would never quite measure up to the standard of Veronica Mars, no matter what.


	7. Chapter 7

Logan liked his new office, it was the one room in the whole place that was properly finished in the newly refurbished and slightly rebuilt block. Of course, that was as it should be, since he was the manager of the whole branch. It was odd, he thought, as he leaned back in his swivelling chair, fingers pressed together as he stared down the potted plant across the room, feeling like Lex Luthor or similar, but a lost less evil. He’d never really considered he’d have to work for a living, or that he even could. Much like his father before him, he didn’t have to have brains, because he had looks and money. Though he was far from stupid he hadn’t had to consider a career of any real kind until after high school when Aaron met the business end of a silenced pistol and Trina Echolls became mistress of all she surveyed.

Though his sister would have helped him out, Logan couldn’t stand the thought of hand-outs from her, and did his best to pay his way. He had some money of his own and studied as best he could. His girlfriend was also his best friend by now, and they helped each other through so many tough times. Their marriage became inevitable, their moving away the next logical step especially when the kids came along. Neptune was not a place they were loving much at that point in their lives and getting out seemed like the best if not the only option.

Whilst Veronica stuck to the PI biz and made a pretty penny being one of the best out there, Logan got a job in the local lawyers office, working his way up through the ranks to where he was now. This new promotion took him almost as high as he could go, in charge of the newest office that had just opened up here in Neptune. Knowing he’d have to defend people he didn’t always like or want to support may not always sit well with Logan, and even less so with his wife, but nine times out of ten Veronica pulled something from up her sleeve that would ensure justice was done one way or the other. They made a pretty good team all in all, both in their business life and at home too, bringing up their kids.

Logan smiled as he reached out a hand and tilted the picture on his desk more toward him. His wife and kids, the perfect family portrait. It was the very first item to be brought in and placed on the desk, as it always was every time they moved. Though the shot changed every year, to accommodate the kids growing up, the picture was always more or less the same, smiles and laughter all around. That had never been true when he and Veronica were the kids age, he was only glad their childhood was running considerably more smoothly.

“Mr Echolls,” said the sweet voice of his new secretary as she tapped on the open door to get his attention.

“What is it, Marcie?” he checked with a smile, and she politely smiled back at him.

So far he seemed like a very fair and kindly boss, not like her last one who had been hard as nails and treated all the staff with contempt. Marcie was glad that she’d gotten this job working for Mr Echolls.

“The architect is here, he needs to ask you a few questions about the rest of the refurbishment,” she explained and Logan nodded.

“Send him in,” he said, and she left to do just that as her manager spun his chair around and faced the huge glass windows behind his desk.

It was odd, this view of Neptune. It’d been so long since he’d looked out over the town from such a height like this, and strangely, it all looked very much the same.

“Well, here we are. Just like old times,” said a voice behind him and Logan’s eyes were wide as dinner plates as he turned around sharply and faced the man he could hardly believe he was seeing.

“Duncan? You’re the architect?” he checked, standing up quickly.

The man across from him was of course a little less shocked to see Logan. Though he’d only discovered the manager’s name late yesterday, at least he’d had a few hours to prepare for what was coming.

“Hello, Logan,” he said calmly. “It’s been a while.”

* * *

Veronica was distracted and for a change it wasn’t by a case. Though she ought to have been concentrating on work, she couldn’t quite manage it. Ever since she and Logan had come to the conclusion two nights ago that Dick Casablancas had probably spawned children with none other than her good friend Cindy Mackenzie, Veronica’s fingers had been itching to get into her Private Eyez search engine and check out the situation once and for all.

Of course she knew that using her resources for anything other than work was unethical and wrong, especially checking up on old friends, but it was killing her working off speculation and half a story. She wanted to know for sure if Mac and Dick, the most unlikely pair she could imagine, really had got it together. If nothing else, she’d like to see her friend again, after so long apart.

Deciding once and for all that this awful feeling of wondering was never going to give til she looked for the information she needed, Veronica’s fingers travelled across the keyboard of her laptop at speed. In moments she’d tracked down what she needed, first a marriage certificate and then two birth certificates all bearing Mac’s name as well as Dick’s own. So it was true, Adam and his as yet unmentioned younger sister Josie really were the offspring off Neptune High’s former computer whiz and surfer dude.

Knowing she could find her friends whole life history with just the click of mouse was appealing, but Veronica didn’t want to hear about Mac’s life through facts and figures spewed out by various government resources. For once she wanted to do the girly thing. She wanted to go for coffee and chat like married women were supposed to once in a while. It might be nice, she considered, to be conventional just this once.

With what should be the correct cell number scribbled on a post it, Veronica grabbed up the phone and dialled. It rang three times before somebody finally picked up, and the voice was thankfully familiar.

“Hey Mac.” Veronica smiled. “I kind of need a favour...” she said, letting the fake question hang, hoping it meant something to her, since it was almost all she’d said to her for a while, her and Wallace both.

“Oh my God! Veronica Mars?” Mac gasped and the blonde could practically see her old friends stunned expression from here. “Geez, its been years!”

“It really has.” Veronica nodded to herself. “How are you doing?”

“I’m great. Busy as hell with work and the kids but I wouldn’t change things,” Mac told her. “How about you? Still in the PI business?”

“Where else would I be?” Veronica asked rhetorically. “Listen, Mac, I was thinking maybe we could meet up if you’re free, catch up properly.”

“Sure, that’d be great,” she said, sounding genuinely pleased to hear from her friend after so long, “but... hold on a sec, does that mean you’re back in Neptune?”

“It does.” Veronica smiled. “Complete with husband and kids. In fact, it’s thanks to the kids that I knew you were still around,” she pointed out. “My daughter met with your son, Adam, at school, and there was talk of his parents knowing her parents. I just can’t quite figure out how you ended up married to Dick.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of a long story,” Mac admitted. “So, hey, how about we do the coffee thing and I tell you all about it?” she said, sounding like the excited teen she had once been and suddenly felt like again.

“Sure.” Veronica grinned, though of course no-one could see her. “Say, Java the Hut? Half an hour?”

“I’ll be there,” Mac agreed.

* * *

“So I was thinking maybe you could come and hang out for the weekend, like stay over Saturday night and stuff? My parents would be totally cool with it and we could all get to know each other better. I mean, I was thinking of inviting Adam too, and...” Maddy rambled on and on, pleasantly but rather gratingly after a while, until Joel eventually cut in.

“Will Lilly be there?” he asked hopefully as Mia rolled her eyes at how terribly obvious he was.

She had barely allowed herself to show a reaction when Adam was mentioned, despite it being the final deciding factor on whether she attended this slumber party type event at the Kane house. She did wonder if it was a good idea to go, and if her parents would approve. She knew they would normally have no problem with her and/or Joel going over to stay at a friends house, just so long as everybody traded telephone numbers and so on. The problem was that the family they would be staying with were the Kanes and though she didn’t know the details, it was clear something major had happened at some point with her own parents and Maddy’s Dad, Duncan. Still, whatever happened with their parents shouldn’t stop the new generation of teens from having a good time, Mia decided, as Maddy confirmed her sister would probably be around, and Joel quickly agreed to visit, seemingly on that basis alone.

“It sounds like fun,” she too agreed to the suggestion when Maddy checked she was also in. “I don’t think Mom and Dad will mind so-” she stopped mid-sentence when she spotted a commotion down the hall.

Two boys from her grade were messing with a younger girl. They’d knocked her books out of her hands, accidentally on purpose, and as she scrambled to pick them up they were kicking them away from her. Not one person was trying to help, in fact many were just pointing and laughing at the poor girl’s distress.

“No way,” Mia muttered as she almost pushed her brother and friend aside, hurrying down the hall to where the bullies continued their antics. “Hey!” she yelled, demanding the attention of the boys that were only slightly taller than her, but obviously strong enough to knock her flying if they wanted to.

“You want something, baby?” asked one guy as they both turned to look at her, eyes raking over he body as Mia stood their with her arms folded angrily across her chest, every inch her mothers daughter as she yelled at them.

“I am not your baby,” she said firmly. “And she is not here to make you feel macho,” she said, pointing down at the little blonde thing who was scrambling to pick up her books and papers and hopefully make a run for it before the bullies noticed she was there and started with her again.

“Er, and this is your business, how?” the other bully asked Mia who stared him down without fear.

“I’m making it my business,” she said, making to push between them to help the girl they’d been messing with, but they wouldn’t let her past.

“Hey, why don’t you go back to wherever you came from, freak girl?” one complained, shoving her a little, though not hard enough to really bother her.

“Or what? I’m going to be your next victim? You gonna go from making little girls cry to hitting a woman? Yeah, that’s real manly, a real step up in the world,” she said, as she made a second attempt to pass them and this time they let her, after all they had no real argument they could make, and even if they had, the Principal chose that moment to appear and ask what was going on.

“Don’t ask us, sir.” One of the guys shook his head as they walked away. “Ask freak girl,” they declared, as Principal Johnson glanced down at his feet where a girl was helping the as yet nameless blonde girl to gather her things together.

“Amelia Echolls.” He sighed. “It hasn’t taken you long to get one wrong side of several young men in this school,” he pointed out, giving her a withering look.

“What can I say, sir?” She shrugged her shoulders, still crouched on the ground. “It’s a gift.”

Ignoring her smart mouth and at least a little glad that someone was standing up to the bullies that he was having trouble keeping in line, Principal Johnson moved on down the hall and left the girls to it.

“Are you okay?” Mia checked with the girl, who nodded solemnly, sniffing back further tears and wiping her eyes on her sleeve.

“Thank you, Amelia,” she said in a small voice summoning a smile as they both stood up together.

Mia appreciated the sentiment, but winced at the further use of her real name.

“It’s Mia,” she told the girl. “And you are?”

“Josie Casablancas.” The little blonde sniffed once more, pushing her unruly hair out of her face. “I think you’re in my brother's grade.”

“Adam is your brother?” Mia checked, eyes wide with surprise, after all the two didn’t exactly look alike and personality wise they seemed to be like polar opposites, he so confident and popular, her apparently the school joke.

“That was so cool,” Maddy was saying as she came up behind Mia, handing her the school bag she’d abandoned.

“Way to stand up for the rights of others, sis,” Joel congratulated her before spoiling it by adding, “and get us noticed by a few more dangerous bully types,” he complained.

“Joel, for God sakes, be a man.” She sighed, rolling her eyes as she turned back to face Josie. “Oh, she’s gone,” she realised as she switched back to talking to her friend. “Maddy, does Adam know she gets bullied like that?” she checked.

“Everybody knows.” Maddy shrugged. “But nobody wants to get involved. Not even Adam,” she said awkwardly, as Mia stared down the hall and just caught sight of Josie disappearing into the girls bathroom.

Mia knew what it was to feel like an outsider. All the moving around that her family did, left her and Joel as the new kids or the freak kids all too often. Fortunately they at least always had each other, and they knew how to stand up for themselves. Josie, it seemed, did not have either of those luxuries.

It made Mia mad to think that nobody made any kind of effort to help her, especially Adam. He’d seemed so perfect to her, Mia knew he had to have a flaw somewhere and apparently she just found it.


	8. Chapter 8

Mia was a woman on a mission as she headed out onto the quad at lunch with her brother and friend. She wasn’t eager to talk or hungry enough to eat, her eyes searched out her target and she made ready to aim and fire.

Adam Casablancas. He was the nearest she’d ever come to believing in love at first sight. He was gorgeous, something her brain reiterated to her even now as she spotted him across the way, messing around with his friends. His muscles rippled beneath his T-shirt, and his dark fringe fell into his sparkling eyes as he laughed and joked. She knew he was smart too, and with a sense of humour that she liked. From the moment she first saw him, she’d known there had to be something wrong somewhere, a defect, a blemish on his perfect looks and character. Nobody was faultless. She knew how easy it was for people to seem that way whilst hiding all kinds of secrets, the advantage or possibly the disadvantage depending on which way you looked at it, of being brought up as the daughter of a PI and a lawyer.

Adam’s flaw wasn’t really what Mia had been expecting. Far from being a liar or a cheater or an alcoholic, something that might have been dealable somehow, he had to be this guy. The guy who would stand and watch whilst his sister faced abuse at the hands of her fellow students. Mia couldn’t stand anybody who was spineless like that. He could deny it, but she knew it was true. It wasn’t as if he wasn’t popular enough, strong enough, big enough to stand up for Josie, he just chose not to. As far as Mia could see his only reason to abandon her like that was for the sake of his own reputation and that made her blood boil. Far from getting hot and bothered over the gorgeous Adam Casablancas, now the only reason she was red in the face was because pure lava-hot anger was pulsing through her veins as she watched him continue to laugh and joke without a care in the world.

“I’ll be right back,” Mia said absently to Joel and Maddy, the latter of whom was only too glad to be left alone with the boy she already adored.

“What is she doing?” Joel sighed, speaking more to himself then to Maddy, but she answered anyway.

“She obviously likes to stand up for others.” She shrugged. “Don’t you think that’s cool?” she checked.

“Well, sure,” Joel agreed with a nod, “but I’d just rather be making friends than enemies right now, y’know?” he said as Maddy smiled in understanding.

“You’ll always have me,” she ventured happily and was glad when he smiled back at her.

“Yeah, that’s cool,” he said, before turning his eyes back to where his sister approached Adam and tapped him on the should to gain his attention.

“Hey, babe, what’s up?” He grinned when she turned and saw who was there. “You wanna come eat with us?” he offered, but Mia ignored the question and pressed on with what she’d come to say.

“I need to talk to you,” she said definitely and one of Adam’s friends shot him a look that spoke volumes.

“I’ll be right back, guys.” Adam smirked as he moved away from the table, and Mia followed. “Y’know I heard about what you did today.” He smiled at her as they faced each other.

“Really?” Mia checked, arms folded across her chest and eyes flashing angrily, though Adam either didn’t seem to notice or just didn’t care.

“Sure. I mean, I dunno why you thought you had to help JoJo out like that, 'cause if you want to go out with me, babe, all you gotta do is ask, y’know?”

“Oh my God!” Mia gasped, a gasp of humourless laughter escaping her throat. “You actually think I stood up for Josie because... because I have some crush on you?” she checked, eyes wide with surprise that he would think that.

Sure, she liked him, a lot actually, but to think she would stand up for the rights of his sister just to get his attention was disgusting and conceited.

“C’mon, Mia.” Adam sighed as he leaned his back against the wall and raked his eyes over her body. “It’s obvious you got it bad for me, and y’know that’s cool, because I kinda like you too, so...”

“Y’know what Adam?” Mia interrupted him, her tone angry but disappointed too. “Maybe I did like you, maybe I did have a crush, but I gotta thank you for fixing that,” she told him, volume rising as she pointed an angry finger. “I thought you were a nice guy, but you’re nothing but a conceited, jerk-faced asshole!” she yelled, finally storming away, past Adam, past Joel and Maddy, and back into the school building letting the door swing like crazy behind her.

“Wow,” Maddy said, as her eyes remained on the door through which her friend had just passed.

“Yeah,” Joel agreed with a nod, as he glanced over at her. “And we thought the biggest problems at your party this weekend would be our parents not getting along.”

* * *

“I guess it started out that we just felt lonely and also had a connection, y’know after the whole Cassidy thing,” Mac said awkwardly, knowing that bringing up Dick’s brother was going to be as weird for Veronica as it was her after all he’d done and how he died. “And then when you and Logan moved away, we started hanging out more and it was actually fun.” She smiled at the memory of her younger days.

“I guess Dick was all about the fun when we were kids,” Veronica considered. “I just never thought his kind of fun would be your kind of fun, I guess.” She shrugged as she took a sip of her coffee.

“Me either, actually,” Mac admitted, turning her own cup around on its saucer. “but after everything that had happened before, I decided any kind of fun was going to be a good thing.” She sighed. “He was still seeing other girls on and off, but it never worked out, and one day he was like, ‘Hey, dude, maybe it’d work out with you and me’.” She laughed as she mimicked her husband badly, and Veronica smiled too.

“Not exactly the most romantic line ever, but it was clearly accurate,” she noted. “But if you got together after me and Logan left, how is Adam in the twins grade at school?” She frowned suddenly, her investigative brain going into over-drive, as always.

“Oh, Adam is a grade ahead of other kids his age, and y’know he came along pretty fast after we got together,” Mac said, looking suddenly bashful. “Like the first or second time we were ‘together’,” she admitted. “Dick was actually real grown-up about it, and suddenly I had a husband and a son. It should’ve been hard and I’m not saying it was always plain sailing, but I swear I don’t know how I could be any happier.” She smiled as her friend did the same.

“I know what you mean,” she agreed, nodding her head. “There have been some serious ups and downs with Logan, mostly when we were in high school. God, there were times I didn’t know what I ever saw in him, but now... losing him would be like having my arm cut off, maybe worse actually.”

“That’s sweet.” Mac smiled. “If not a little bloody,” she added, as Veronica caught sight of the clock above her friends head, her eyes going a little wide.

“Oh, Mac, I’m sorry but I have to go,” she said as she took note of the time and the brunette turned to do the same.

“Wow,” she said, looking stunned when she turned back around. “We have this girly chat thing down.”

“We really do.” Veronica nodded as she gathered up her purse and the photos she’d left on the table. “I’m sorry to leave all of a sudden but I promised Logan I’d take him a late lunch when he was done with the architect and-”

“Veronica, it’s fine,” Mac promised her. “I have a ton of work I should be doing, but it’d be cool to meet up again, maybe a little sooner than twenty years this time?” she suggested as Veronica smiled.

“Hey, I have an idea,” she said as she moved out of the booth. “I invited Weevil over for dinner Saturday night, you and Dick should come too, we’ll make it like a reunion thing.”

“That’d be cool,” Mac agreed as Veronica realised she really was late to meet her husband now.

“I’ll call you,” she promised, waving bye for now to her friend as she swung out of the coffee house and jumped into her car.

So much for making sandwiches and the such like for their lunch, Veronica realised she have to pull out the big book of contingency plans that got almost daily use in her hectic life as a PI. A quick stop at the deli down the street and she was all stocked and ready, grateful that at least she didn’t meet any more old familiar faces on her way, otherwise that’d hold her up even longer.

It wasn’t as if Logan would be all that mad that she was now a half hour late, especially when she told him why, but Veronica did so hate to miss a deadline or let anybody down. The people she hated letting down most were her husband and kids, and that was why she was driving so crazy that her tyres squealed as she pulled into the parking lot behind her husband’s law office.

It didn’t thrill Veronica to realise the elevator was out of use due to the continuing refurbishment and building works, leading to her running up several flights of stairs with all the lunch supplies in her arms. Veronica was only grateful that she was fit and healthy from the work she did, chasing down perps and such, otherwise she would’ve been an even bigger mess than she felt when she arrived at her husbands office.

“I’m sorry I’m late, honey,” she said as she practically crashed through the door.

As if the rushing around hadn’t amply knocked the air from her lungs, the shock she got when she entered the office almost completely finished her off.

“Hey, Veronica,” Duncan greeted her with a smile as his eyes took in her familiar face and form that hadn’t really changed that much these past twenty years, at least he couldn’t see any alteration at all.

“Duncan,” she said when she found her breath. “Er, this is a surprise. What are you doing here?” she checked.

“Would you believe our good buddy Duncan here slipped out from old Jake’s shadow and struck out on his own as an architect?” Logan told his wife as he came over to her and took the lunch things from her before she dropped them. “Sweetie, did you run all the way here?” he checked, noticing that her breathlessness didn’t all seem to be shock-induced.

“Mostly,” she admitted, finally shifting her eyes from her ex-love to Logan. “You know I hate to be late, but Mac and I got talking. Y’know how us girls can gossip,” she joked at her own expense as Logan dropped the sandwiches onto his desk and moved to put an arm around his wife.

“I do,” he agreed, dropping a quick kiss on her lips, “but I think we might actually have to admit to being just as distracted,” he admitted. “I didn’t even notice the time.”

“Well, we’re pretty much done here,” said Duncan, looking awkward suddenly as he rolled up a couple of plans that’d been laid out on the desk.

He’d been fine just catching up with Logan, he supposed because they were talking about family and kids, it was easy to put all the difficult stuff out of his head - Logan’s father killing Lilly, Duncan’s own instructions to have Aaron Echolls life terminated, the fact that they’d pretty much played catch with Veronica, tossing her back and forth between them for a while there in their teen years. None of that came up before, and it was good, but now with Veronica in the room, the dynamic changed. Now Duncan felt like the third wheel and just wanted to get out.

“You don’t wanna stay for lunch, man?” Logan offered amiably, which Veronica was equal parts stunned and pleased by.

She could use her husband not being the green-eyed monster just because she and Duncan were within easy reach of each other again, and yet spending an hour or more in a room with him right now, raking up things she like to keep buried, Veronica wasn’t ready for that yet.

“Thanks, Logan, but I have other appointments I have to get to. I’m probably already late,” he said with half a smile to his two old friends as he gathered up his stuff and practically ran for the door.

“Well, hey, if you can’t stay now you should come to dinner sometime,” Logan suggested, his arm still around Veronica’s shoulders so they both turned as one to look at Duncan hovering in the doorway. “You and your wife, obviously. What do you say, honey? You think we can squeeze two more around the table when your charming Mexican friend comes calling Saturday?”

“Yeah, sure.” She nodded, just about recovered now from both her running and the sight of Duncan.

The reminder that he had a spouse and kids just like her did wonders for Veronica’s vocabulary. It made her feel more secure, knowing that arguments over who should be with who were long over. They were grown ups now, all with separate lives and families. At that thought, she smiled genuinely.

“We wouldn’t want to intrude,” Duncan was saying but she shook her head.

“Duncan, come on,” she said, rolling her eyes. “You guys used to be best friends, and we all need to catch up. Its been too long already,” she told him as he looked right at her and also found a smile at last.

“Okay.” He nodded once. “Saturday would be great.”

“Excellent.” Veronica grinned as their old friend finally left and Logan waved as he did so. “So, from one dinner guest to a whole party.” She sighed at the thought of all that cooking and preparation.

Oh well, it’d be worth it, she was sure.


	9. Chapter 9

“Why? Just, why did I ever think this was a good plan?!” Veronica asked the room in general as she stood by the kitchen counter, surrounded by ingredients and struggling to make any sense out of the recipe book propped up before her.

This evening she was hosting a dinner party for her old friends, a kind of reunion thing. The conversations and reminiscing she could deal with, she was even prepared to share the table with her ex boyfriend and his new wife. What the former Miss Mars was less thrilled by was the preparations that were involved in making this evening into some semblance of perfection. The cooking, in particular, was not fun, although she was pretty good at it, she never usually went quite so fancy or daring with her dishes. The kids were happy with take out when she and Logan both worked late and would be grateful enough for the few meals their parents home-made for them. This was different, this was way fancy, and Veronica was starting to feel very out of her league.

“Mom, have you seen my skirt?” Mia asked as she swung in through the kitchen door.

“Specifics would be helpful?” her mother suggested as she spared her a glance before going back to measuring out a specified amount of flour.

“The really cute one I got on sale the week before we moved to Neptune,” she said as she checked through a pile of recently ironed items that were piled on the couch.

“Should be right where you’re looking,” Veronica assured her as she glanced at her daughter and then back at what she was doing.

“Excellent.” Mia smiled as she found the skirt in question and made her way back towards the stairs. “Thanks, Mom!”

“Hey, hold on a second, Mia,” Veronica said suddenly as she rushed after her daughter, wiping her hands on a dishtowel as she came. “Didn’t you buy that skirt specifically to make the boys sorry you were leaving?” She smirked at the memory of her daughter saying just that on the morning of her last day at her previous school.

“Maybe,” Mia said, shifting uncomfortably. “Why do you ask?” she checked as Veronica’s smirk turned to a smile and she shook her head, silently saying it was not important or there was no reason.

As Mia headed back up to her room, thinking perhaps her Mom was going a little crazy, Veronica headed back into the kitchen, still with a smile on her face. Sometimes her kids forgot what she did for a living and how easily she put things together because of that. Amelia wasn’t just going over to the Kane house to see Maddy and Lilly, oh no, this was all about a boy, she suspected perhaps Adam Casablancas. Sure, Mia had told her of the telling off she’d given the boy, and how mad she was at him for his behaviour, but both Veronica and Logan knew as they listened to her tell the story of events that their daughter was only so angry because she liked him so much. Hell, the only reason the two of them could ever hurt each other so much as teens was because they were harbouring strong feeling of both lust and love underneath it all. It was a slightly concerning thought, Veronica noted, that should things ever get serious between her daughter and Mac’s son it would end with them all being related to Dick and her own grandchildren would bear the Casablancas name.

Shaking her head to clear such disturbing thoughts that, as of right now, were far from relevant, Veronica went back to concentrating on her cooking and general food preparation. There was still an awful lot to do before people started arriving and with Logan spending most of the day at the office sorting out some paperwork, and the kids heading off to the Kane house any time soon for the major part of the weekend, that left just Veronica to cope with everything else.

“Knock, knock?” called a familiar voice from the door, and the blonde smiled as she glanced up and realised her father had let himself into the house.

“Hey, Dad. What brings you here?” she asked curiously, stopping only briefly to greet him before spinning around to check what was in the oven and so forth.

“Can’t a father just come visit his only daughter on a Saturday?” he checked, then off her suspicious glance he added. “And Logan might’ve mentioned you could use a hand with your dinner party,” he admitted. “I figured I might be of some help, so we can at least guarantee the whole evening doesn’t, y’know, lean to the left,” he teased her, much to Veronica’s amusement.

“Okay, Mr Superfly Chef Guy,” she joked, as Keith removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. “Offer of help graciously accepted."

* * *

It was mid-afternoon when the kids all gathered together at the Kane house. Mia was dressed to kill in an outfit chosen specifically to make Adam drool over her. It was crazy and she knew it, she was mad as hell at him and didn’t really want him to come anywhere near her, and yet, and the same time, she still liked him a lot. She craved attention from the gorgeous young stud that haunted her dreams, despite the fact she knew he was the ass and jerk that she had accused him of being. His behaviour was despicable and that ought to take away from his hotness, but everything else about him was so perfect she could just die. Her plan today was to make him suffer, by looking at hot as possible, and not letting him anywhere near her. After all, he’d effectively done the same thing by daring to be so beautiful on the outside and keeping her at arms length by being such a bad person where his sister was concerned.

As for Joel, he was practically bouncing like a kid on a sugar high the whole way over to the Kane house, so excited to get there apparently. Unfortunately, it wasn’t his friend Maddy, the one who had invited him and his sister for the weekend, that he was so eager to spend time with. Nope, like so many guys before him, Joel was head over heels for Madeline’s older sister, Lilly Kane.

Much like her aunt and namesake, the girl had the looks and the ‘tude that had all the boys swooning and she enjoyed it to the full! Mia had no doubt she would be subjected to a lot of her brother falling over himself to get close to the older Kane girl, and only hoped that there would be other people she could talk to as she avoided Adam too. Surely Maddy had other friends she planned to invite to this weekend party or whatever it was, though Mia knew her newest friend didn’t really hang with the 09er set, she did talk to other students of Neptune High and must have friends beyond Adam Casablancas, herself, and Joel.

She soon found out that there were at least two more people on Maddy’s Christmas card list as she and Joel were met at the front door by an over-excited Madeleine, and led right through the house to the back where the party was already getting started around the pool.

“Okay, so you know Adam and Josie,” she gestured to the brother and sister, who gazed and waved respectively at the Echolls kids. “And this is Steven Parker, my next door neighbour.” She smiled as she introduced the guy trying to tune the radio to something he liked. “And that’s Lizzie Gray in the pool,” she pointed out. “We’ve been friends since like Kindergarten. Guys, this is Mia and Joel Echolls,” she told the two that didn’t know, finally completing the slightly awkward introductions.

“Er, isn’t your sister joining us?” Joel asked, looking around and not spotting Lilly anywhere.

“Way to go, Joel.” Mia rolled her eyes as she walked past him, patting his shoulder. “Subtle, just like a brick to the head,” she dead-panned, as she moved along the side of the pool and dumped her bag beside a sun-lounger.

“Hi, Mia,” Josie greeted her from her spot on the next bed over, with a bright smile that Mia was pleased to see.

“Hey.” The older girl smiled back. “How are you doing after... y’know?” she checked.

“It's cool.” Josie shrugged her shoulders, hiding her face behind her blonde hair that hung loose today. “I’m kinda used to the bullying thing,” she said softly, and Mia wished she hadn’t brought up the subject as it seemed to have brought a sudden black cloud over Josie’s head that hadn’t been there at all a moment ago.

“You shouldn’t have to be used to it,” Mia told her with a sad shake of her head, shooting daggers from her eyes at Adam who just turned away and took a dive into the pool.

“Don’t be too mad at Adam,” Josie urged her new friend. “He’s a pain in the ass most of the time, but the last couple of days he’s actually been, well, like a brother, I guess.” She smiled. “He brought me here and everything. He never usually would.”

Mia looked from Josie to Adam and back. Clearly her words had sunk in, and it had mattered to him that she was unhappy with his behaviour. That was some power to have and ought to prove that he at least cared what she thought, and therefore maybe even liked her the way she liked him. Of course, Mia knew it shouldn’t have taken her yelling at Adam to make him see that his sister needed his love and support, he should’ve known anyway. Though she and Joel fought like cat and dog sometimes, she would always be there if her twin found himself in some kind of trouble, and knew he’d be just as quick to react if something happened to her that she needed some help with.

Nevertheless, Mia was pleased to know she’d had an impact on Adam, firstly for Josie’s sake, and secondly for her own. She didn’t want to have to hate him, it was too difficult when everything else about him was so perfect in her eyes. Maybe if she played her cards right this weekend, things could work out better than she ever thought possible.

* * *

“And we’re done,” Keith declared as he put the last individual dessert into the refrigerator for later, and Veronica wiped down the kitchen counter with a sigh.

“Wow,” she declared as she practically collapsed onto the nearest stool. “Next time I complain about my job, please remind me why PI is so much better than professional dinner party hostess,” she exclaimed, blowing some hair out of her face.

“I actually kind of enjoyed that,” her father told her with a grin. “Usually there’s only me to cook for so it was nice getting a chance to do this, and spend a good part of the day with my gorgeous daughter too,” he said as he put an arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

“Am I too late to help?” Logan asked as he appeared in he doorway, snapping his fingers and faking disappointment. “Oh, shoot.”

“And now you see why he chose the lawyer gig instead of following the family path of acting,” Veronica declared, making her father laugh.

“Isn’t she just the cutest thing?” Logan stated as he got a hold of his wife. “But I’d never be without her,” he said, suddenly serious and Veronica smiled up at him.

“Never going to happen,” she swore as she got up on her toes to briefly kiss his lips, before declaring she had to go get ready before everyone seated arriving and headed off quickly for the stairs.

“I should make a move,” Keith said, grabbing up his jacket and pulling it on.

“You sure you don’t want to stay, Keith?” his son-in-law offered. “I mean, you helped Veronica so much, and I’m sure we could make room for one more.”

“That’s very decent of you, Logan, but I have someplace else to be,” he told him. “Don’t tell Veronica because it’d only freak her out but I actually have a date.”

“Life in the old dog yet, huh?” Logan smirked as he helped himself to a bottle of water from the fridge.

“Something like that,” Keith agreed. “But hey, I’m not that old,” he added as an after-though when he realised exactly what had been said.

The Sheriff called goodbye to Veronica as he finally left. Logan heard voices on the front steps and figured Keith had met the first of their dinner party guests arriving. Quickly checking his appearance in the hall mirror he went to investigate.

“Dude!” Dick declared loudly as he saw his buddy for the first time in too many years. “It’s been too long, man,” he said definitely as they shared a manly hug, almost knocking Mac flying in the process.

“Don’t mind me, I’ll just get flattened by this display of manly affection, it’s fine.” She smirked as the guys finally paid attention to the fact she was still standing there.

“Good to see you too, er, do we still call her Mac?” Logan started, turning to Dick with the latter part of his question.

“Well, personally I have all kinds of cute little names for my hot little wife,” the blond said suggestively, “but yeah, she still likes Mac, despite the fact she’s been a Casablancas for years now.”

“Yes, she really does like Mac,” the woman in question confirmed as she too was awkwardly hugged by Logan.

“Hey, any chance of me getting one of those?” a voice asked behind them and the three were surprised they hadn’t noticed the motorcycle noise as Weevil strode over from where he’d parked his hog. “Obviously, I was talking to the lady,” he added, off Logan and Dick’s odd look.

“How you been, Weevil?” Mac asked him with a smile as she gave him the hug he’d asked for, much to Dick’s discomfort.

“Not as good as you obviously,” he said, looking her over. “You grew up good, Mackenzie.”

“She’s a Casablancas now,” Dick repeated, putting a territorial arm around his wife’s shoulders.

“Nah, she couldn’t ever be that dumb,” Weevil said mostly to himself as he wandered past everybody else and straight into the house, just as Veronica arrived at the foot of the stairs and spotted her guests at the door. “What is wrong with this picture?” Weevil sighed. “You two guys get two gorgeous women, and I’m the one here alone? Somethin’ ain’t right with that.”

“It’s real lucky they don’t suspect that us girls are seeing you on the side, Weevil,” Veronica said with a smirk. “Oops, that just slipped out,” she joked, much to the bikers amusement, and the other guys horror.

“Let’s get everybody inside and eat, wife,” Logan said with a mock-stern tone that only made the blonde laugh as she greeted her guests with hugs and smiles.

“Um, I thought we were expecting Duncan and Annabelle?” Mac said as the five moved out of the hallway towards the dining room.

“He called, they’re running a little late,” Logan told her, glancing over at Veronica who’s smile now looked forced.

Logan wasn’t sure how comfortable he was going to be faced with his ex-best-friend and that mans wife in this situation. There was a lot of history between Logan, Duncan, Veronica, and the tragically lost Lilly, and that was before you even mentioned the murder and mayhem that broke out amongst them and their parents. The two guys alone in the office talking about generic stuff had worked out fine but Logan was starting to wonder if he’d made a very dumb decision inviting the Kane couple to this mini-reunion. Of course, it was too late to back out now, as the doorbell rang.


	10. Chapter 10

Veronica ushered her guests through to the living room, suggesting that her husband got them all a drink whilst she answered the door. She really didn’t want an audience when she was forced to face Duncan and his wife for the first time, the whole situation would most likely be awkward enough anyway.

The blonde stood in position behind the door, straightened herself up and took a deep breath, before reaching out to open said door, feeling fully prepared for the sight that was about to meet her eyes. That was perhaps a little hard to believe if you were the person on the other side, and witnessed the stunned expression on Veronica’s face at that moment.

“Oh,” she said, taking in the face of one lone woman who was most likely not Duncan’s wife. “I’m sorry,” she said with a shake of her head. “I was expecting someone else,” she declared with an embarrassed smile. “Can I help you?”

“Actually, I think I can help you,” the mystery woman smiled right back. “My name is Marcie, I work for your husband, Logan Echolls, at the office?”

“Oh, right, Marcie.” Veronica snapped her fingers in realisation. “Sorry, we were never formally introduced, I’m Veronica,” she said, shaking her hand. “Would you like to come inside?”

“Oh, I don’t want to intrude on your evening,” Marcie insisted. “I was just cleaning up the office and I realised Mr Echolls had left his cell behind,” she explained, producing said item from her purse and holding it out to Veronica. “I thought he might need it and since I was passing by-”

“That was very thoughtful, Marcie, thank you,” the blonde said gratefully as she took the phone from her. “Honestly, you would think after the cash he spent on this thing, he’d learn to take better care of it.” She rolled her eyes.

“Well, that was all I came for so, you have a nice evening, Mrs Echolls.” Marcie smiled, even as Veronica herself winced.

“Ugh, that name makes me feel old,” she told the woman on her doorstep. “Really, please, it’s Veronica, and y’know you really don’t have to rush off,” she insisted. “We have room at the table for one more, in fact you’d be doing me a favour, evening up my evening?” she explained. “We’re one guy too many really, so... are you hungry, at all?” she said, looking almost desperate for Marcie to stay.

Honestly, she had no reason to say no to the invitation, other than the fact she wasn’t really dressed for a dinner party. She liked her boss a lot, and his wife seemed really sweet. For people that lived in the 09er zip they were surprisingly nice, and Marcie didn’t feel like another night alone in front of the TV with a microwaved meal.

“Okay,” she said eventually, letting out a breath. “I mean, yes, thank you, I’d love to stay and eat,” she agreed with a smile that Veronica was glad to see.

“I love my skills of persuasion,” the blonde said as if to herself, as Marcie laughed and was ushered inside. “Okay, everybody, we have one more guest for dinner,” she announced as she led her new friend into the living room, feeling only slightly guilty that she had invited her in mostly to put one more person into the conversation that wasn’t a Kane.

“Marcie.” Logan grinned at the sight of his secretary. “Couldn’t keep away from me, huh?” he teased, as his wife playfully slapped him across the arm.

“Well, y’know, she would have called before she came over but somehow I don’t think you would’ve picked up,” Veronica told him, waving his cell under his nose.

“Ah,” he said, taking it from her and getting her point. “Marcie, you’re a life saver,” he told her, with a thanks to go along with.

“No problem,” she assured him, before Veronica started introducing her to Mac and Dick.

“Ah, and here we have our other guest,” the hostess said as Weevil returned to them, presumably from the bathroom. “Marcie, I’d like you to meet-”

“Eli,” the woman said, looking stunned, and Weevil was similarly afflicted as they stared at each other.

“Okay, either you’re really good at this game, or you two already met?” Veronica said, looking between them, immediately picking up on the vibe that they were both very surprised to see each other and yet nonetheless pleased about the turn of events.

“Damn, girl, it’s been years.” Weevil smiled, immediately embracing the woman before him as Veronica looked on in astonishment and Logan did the same.

“Either he’s really friendly to strangers these days or-?

“Yes, honey, we’ve established they know each other,” the blonde told her husband with a look as Weevil and Marcie fast became the centre of attention.

It seemed apparent as they stared at each other they knew each other very well, though Veronica suspected it had been a while. Of course his comment that it had been years covered that, but what neither of them had yet to mention was the nature of the relationship they’d once had.

Friends? Lovers? Veronica was inclined to believe the latter since she was sure she’d never seen her old friend look at another woman quite like he was looking at Marcie. Maybe, she noted, she might have seen such a look if she’d known about him and Lilly before it was too late. Still, there was no time to dwell on that thought as a knock at the door signalled more guests arriving, presumably Duncan and his wife.

“Er, Logan, would you...?” she asked him and he duly nodded and went to the door, wondering vaguely why Veronica was so reluctant to do it.

Still, he was more than glad to know his wife was in no particular hurry to spend time with the ex that had once meant so much to her. Logan didn’t like competition where Veronica was concerned, and despite the fact the feud between himself and Duncan over the supposed love of both their lives had ended twenty years ago or more, it didn’t stop him being wary. Veronica meant too much to him for any risks to be taken, that was for sure.

“So, Marcie, how about we seat you next to Weevil since you obviously want to catch up,” Veronica suggested, at which the woman beside her smiled.

Marcie nodded and thanked her hostess once again for her kindness as Dick got the latest arrival a drink, mostly as an excuse to get himself another!

“I’m thinking old flame, yes?” Veronica whispered to Weevil when Marcie was gone from ear-shot but not from sight, a fact made obvious by the way he was still staring at her like he’d just discovered Excalibur.

“More than that, V,” her friend admitted just as quietly. “Next to Lilly she was... Well, without getting all mushy on you, she was my world, once upon a time,” he admitted, looking anything but the tough guy biker dude Veronica remembered him as right now.

“Wow,” was all she could find to say in response, especially since immediately after Weevil leaned into her and whispered in her ear.

“Speaking of old flames,” he said gesturing towards the door where Logan and Duncan were greeting each other a little awkwardly. “Yeah, good luck with that.” Weevil smirked, before leaving Veronica alone.

Taking a deep breath and forcing a smile on her face, she prepared for the evening that honestly couldn’t be as bad as she was imagining, at least she hoped not!

* * *

This afternoon had not gone in the direction Mia had planned. Though her appearance in her swimsuit had got plenty of attention at first, Adam had since been making huge efforts to stay away from her it seemed. He alternated between playing up to Maddy or Lizzie, and checking on Josie. Mia couldn’t blame him for the latter, though she suspected part of his reason for worrying so much about his little sister was just because it meant he didn’t have to talk to her. He really had no reason to be mad at her, when she’d yelled at him before she had been right to do so and his behaviour since suggested that even Adam agreed with that. Now it was like she’d been the one in the wrong, like he was totally pissed at her, and she hated it.

It was kind of a double standard, finding it okay that she’d been off with him, but thinking it unfair that he would turn the tables and be like that with her. Still, in spite of the fact she was smart enough to know her reasoning was stupid, Mia still hated the situation.

It seemed pathetic that she couldn’t even get her own brother or her supposed new best friend to spend any time with her, as Joel drooled over Lilly, and Maddy fought to regain his attention. Obviously the elder Kane girl was much desired, being older and more experienced, and with a body to die for. Mia would have been jealous if not for the fact that the other guys at least seemed immune to her charms somehow.

Laying alone on a sunlounger now, feeling increasingly bitter that the party was practically going on without her, Mia looked obviously grumpy about the whole thing, and it didn’t go unnoticed.

“Y’know you’re gonna spoil your pretty face if you keep frowning like that,” Steven told her as he pulled himself out of the pool right in front of her.

Mia had the good grace to smile and blush simultaneously at the comment from an unexpected source, since they really didn’t know each other and had hardly spoken so far today. Steven wasn’t quite as well built as Adam, but undeniably good looking with sandy blond hair and a smile to swoon over. Unfortunately, he just didn’t do it for Mia, something she attributed to the fact Adam was close by, still stealing all her attention.

“So, are you having a good time?” she asked more out of politeness than actually wanting to know as Steven came and sat on the lounger next to hers.

“I guess.” He shrugged, smiling that mega-watt smile of his. “I honestly think Maddy and Lilly only invite me to their little parties so I don’t get lonely.” He rolled his eyes. “But they’re nice girls. Lilly and me actually used to date.”

“Really?” Mia replied with interest as she watched her own brother falling over himself to please the eldest Kane who was lapping up the attention, leaving Madeline to fall by the way side.

“Yeah, but me and Lil, it was a long time ago.” Steven shook his head. “She’s kind of a player these days, so maybe you should warn your brother-”

“Joel can take care of himself on this one,” Mia cut in fast. “One thing we don’t do is mess with each others love lives. Well, he wouldn’t if I had one.” She sighed bitterly as her gaze shifted to Adam.

“You do know he’s crazy about you, right?” her newest friend asked her, grin not shifting. “All this stupid play-acting with Maddy and Lizzie, I told him its dumb, but Adam doesn’t like to listen to sensible suggestions like that.” He shook his head as Mia looked at least a little intrigued.

“How do you know he’s acting?” she checked. “Maybe he’s actually interested in them.”

“Well, him and Maddy would never happen,” said Steve definitely. “They’re practically like brother and sister,” he explained. “And y’know you would have a better chance with Lizzie than he would,” he said with a pointed look that made Mia’s eyes go wide.

“Oh,” she said then. “I had no idea she was... y’know, gay or whatever.”

“Yeah, well, I guess it’s true what they say.” Steve shrugged. “All the good ones are taken or gay, well, mostly anyway,” he said with a wink as he stood up and scoped out the water before executing a perfect dive back into the pool.

Mia watched him swim off in the opposite direction and smiled. He was a nice guy, and he’d helped her figure out a few things. Adam was messing around with Maddy and Lizzie just to try and make her jealous she suspected, since Steven seemed pretty certain it was her he liked. Of course, Mia had no particular reason to believe this guy she only just met, but she wanted to. Any friend of Maddy’s was surely a good guy and as such a truthful one.

Just as Mia was contemplating her next move, she heard a commotion as Lilly came running from the house, dragging Joel behind her by the hand. In her other hand she carried what appeared to be a vodka bottle, though from here it was impossible to tell if it were full or empty.

“Hey, everybody in the pool house!” Lilly yelled loudly, so loud in fact that Mia was sure some people in the next state were bound to be right there to answer her command. “It’s time for Spin the Bottle”

“What are we, Lil, like twelve years old?” Steven called as he pulled himself out of the pool once again, not hugely thrilled by the odd interruption.

“What’s the matter, Steve?” she said like a challenge. “Afraid your luck will be too good?” she said with a decidedly suggestive look on her face that wasn’t lost on anyone.

“No way,” he said, rising to said challenge. “I’m game, if Mia is?” he said, looking her way, much to her surprise.

Still, never let it be said that Miss Echolls wasn’t ready for any challenge that came her way, as she smiled appropriately and got to her feet.

“I’m in,” she said definitely, sneaking a look at Adam and praying the fates of twelve year olds party games were on her side tonight.


	11. Chapter 11

“Okay so remind me how the hell this works again,” Adam asked Lilly as the gang sat themselves down on the floor of the Kane poolhouse in a circle.

“It’s Spin the Bottle, doofus.” Josie rolled her eyes at her older brother. “The rules are right there in the title, you spin the bottle.”

There was general smirking and giggling at Adam being made to look so stupid by his usually shy little sister. Unfortunately, it only made Adam immediately regret his better treatment of Josie today and he snapped at her for her unusually outspoken behaviour.

“Like you’ve ever even played,” he said nastily. “No guy would wanna go anywhere near you.”

His words clearly hurt his sister, who was fragile enough at the best of times. She was up on her feet and pelting out the door in a second, and nobody looked favourably on Adam for the way he’d trusted her, least of all Mia.

“Maybe I should go after her,” she said, making to get to her feet, but Lilly’s hand on her arm pushed her back down.

“She’ll be fine,” the blonde insisted. “She can’t get far, we have security,” she assured her sisters friend. “Besides, we need you for the game.” She giggled, clapping her hands like a much younger girl than her actual twenty-one years.

It was perhaps this that made Mia wonder if the vodka bottle they were about to spin had always been empty, or if Lilly and perhaps Joel had been the ones to finish off the substance. After all, Mia’s twin didn’t look so great right now, in fact he was wobbling quite a bit whilst just trying to sit up straight.

‘Oh yeah, this’ll be fun,’ Mia thought to herself, as she looked around the assembled group. It was as if nobody really genuinely wanted to be there, and yet they wouldn’t argue with Lilly. It could be that, or possibly nobody wanted to look like the loser who was too afraid to play the game. Either way, Mia was pretty sure she wasn’t the only one here that would rather be otherwhere, and that gave her a little comfort at least.

“Okay, ground rules,” Lilly said then, placing the bottle on the floor in front of her and turning it around for no apparent reason as she spoke. “When you spin the bottle, whoever it lands on is the one you have to kiss. Cheeks are fine for the first time, but a second time on the same person demands lips. You get the magic number three and... well, you guys know how it goes.” She winked. “And obviously there’s one other rule...”

“Oh yeah, that fun one where you only have to kiss the opposite sex.” Lizzie rolled her eyes, once again being left out of the fun since she’d only get to kiss boys, something that obviously didn’t thrill her.

“Actually, I was gonna say no lip locking if you’re related since we have brothers and sisters here,” Lilly gestured between Mia and Joel to either side, as well as herself and Maddy opposite. “I have no problem with anything else.” She shrugged, making sure no-one had time to mess with her game plan as she spun the bottle and watched it land with precision on Steve.

From that moment, it was clear to most of the circle that this game was more than likely a set up for whatever reason, but it was too late to back out now. The old friends leaned in for a peck on the cheek, and even that tiny gesture seemed to offend Joel who looked daggers at opposite young man, albeit drunkenly and silently.

Taking his turn next, Steve spun the bottle and watched in faked-amazement as it landed on Mia. He’d had a feeling Lilly had messed with the bottle and he wasn’t wrong. Whoever he aimed for he got, and that should make the night more than a little interesting. It was Adam’s turn to look mad as Mia leaned across to get to Steve and planted a kiss on his cheek, blushing profusely as she did so, despite her best efforts to the contrary. The red in her cheeks increased ten-fold when she took her turn to spin the bottle and watched it land on Steve. That confused Lilly a little bit since she was sure Mia would aim for Adam, and that should’ve meant she got him, still there was a certain skill in the way you had to spin for even the weighted bottle to comply. Nobody was as big an expert at this as Lilly herself, and clearly Mia was an amateur. Oh well, it was only going to make the whole night more interesting for the elder Miss Kane who took great delight in watching her friends, new and old, squirm like worms on hooks in the confines of the poolhouse.

“Looks like I’m the man tonight, getting all the action.” Steve winked as he leaned I towards Mia once again.

They both knew the rules, it was lip lock time, however briefly or innocently. The problem for Mia was, she really wasn’t this girl. That wasn’t to say she’d never been kissed, because she had, but her tough reputation that she’d taken over from her mother was such that few boys ever dared to ask her out, and fewer dare to lay a hand on the girl who’s parents were a gun-toting PI and a top-notch lawyer. Kissing wasn’t exactly Mia’s specialist subject, and unlike Lilly and girls like her, she wasn’t used to being demanded to lock lips with strangers like this.

“Hey, don’t look so worried,” Steve whispered in her ear as they leaned in close. “I don’t bite,” he assured her with a wink as she let herself relax and savour a moment that was far from awful.

Steve was incredibly sweet and Mia was sure if she wasn’t already hung up on Adam Casablancas, she’d have enjoyed this moment with this guys hand in her hair and lips on hers a whole lot more than she actually did.

“Ooh, it’s getting hot in here.” Lilly giggled, fanning herself with her hand.

Mia just continued to blush as she and Steve sat back down in the circle and Adam snapped that somebody else should get a turn already.

He looked more than a little mad and nobody missed it, all secretly smirking to themselves. He practically had ‘I’m jealous’ tattooed on his forehead right now, and not even Mia missed it. It made her feel more than a little bit better about this whole game, and from that point forward she vowed not to worry about what she was called on to do, or how much it made her blush. It was worth it if she knew she was driving Adam crazy.

The gang really started to get into the game and enjoy themselves, despite the tangible jealousy at times. They had all quite forgotten Josie who had run out into the semi-dark just a few minutes before. She hadn’t got far as Lilly surmised, and honestly she hadn’t intended to. Running off around the pool and across the patio, she had ended up under a large tree in the gardens, huddled up beneath the darkening sky with her knees pulled into her chest. The tears came and went quite quickly. Too many awful things had been said to her before to let her stupid brothers words do too much harm. Sometimes she hated him, especially when he’d proved today he could be nicer, only to turn around and prove he would always be the opposite too.

“Guys suck!” she said somewhat angrily, ripping up twin clumps of grass with her hands and slamming her fists into the ground.

“Excuse me?” a voice asked as he rounded the tree, and Josie audibly gasped as she looked up into a pair of beautiful brown eyes in a decidedly tanned face. “Are you okay?” he asked her, though honesty Josie couldn’t understand why he was even talking to her at all.

“I... I’m just having a bad day,” she said nervously, moving to get up off the floor if only to feel a little less like she were being towered over.

She was pleasantly surprised when the boy offered her his hand and easily picked her up off the ground onto her feet.

“Well, I thought I was having a bad day too.” He smiled. “ut not so much now I’ve met you,” he told her, causing Josie to look at him like he was an alien.

Surely this was some kind of practical joke or she’d fallen asleep and was dreaming. These were the only logical explanations that the little blonde could come up with since the boy standing opposite her now, looking down into her face with a warm smile, was far from ugly and apparently liked what he saw when he looked at her too.

“I’m Josie... Casablancas,” she introduced herself, not knowing what else to say - since she could recall her own name at least it seemed like a decent place to start from.

“Antonio Perez,” he told her in reply. “My grandfather is the head gardener here so I get to visit and help out sometimes.”

“That’s cool.” Josie smiled up at the boy who she surmised was about her age despite being almost a foot taller than she was. “I’m supposed to be at the party over there.” She gestured towards the poolhouse. “But my brother’s being a dork and... well, I wasn’t having fun.” The smile slipped from her face then, her eyes going to the floor.

“A frown doesn’t suit your pretty face,” he told Josie as he lifted her chin with his finger. “So, lets see if we can’t find you something to smile about,” he said, glancing towards the house and then back at her, holding a hand out for her to take. “The women in the kitchen know me, they always let me have free food. You think cake would keep you smiling?” he asked her, and as much as Josie thought she probably shouldn’t she immediately found herself nodding as she grasped the hand he offered her and ran with Antonio across the lawn towards the house.

* * *

“Y’know, Ronnie, if I wasn’t already totally happily married, I think I’d marry you just for your cooking,” Dick joked as one by one everyone around the table finished off the main course of the meal.

“That’s... sweet, I think,” Veronica said uncertainly, laughing lightly as Mac swatted her husband in the chest for such a comment, and Logan assured his friend that no matter what nobody but he himself stood a chance with Veronica.

His point was not lost on Duncan, that much was evident from the expression on his face directly following Logan’s comment. Still, he wasn’t the type to rise to the bait, especially not in front of his wife who had yet to look entirely comfortable in the unfamiliar surroundings.

“Okay, so dessert?” Veronica checked, as she made to stand up.

“Hey, I’ll do it,” her husband said gently pushing her back into her seat as he got to his feet. “You’ve done enough today,” he assured her as he began clearing dirty plates away.

“You want some help, man?” Weevil offered, mostly for Veronica’s sake, Logan presumed, and perhaps to further impress Marcie tonight.

“Sure, why not?” he nodded, deciding he could at least be civil to the guy after so many years.

“Wow, so many men to wait on me hand and foot.” Veronica sighed. “A girl could get used to it.” She smirked as the two men took the dirty dishes away to the kitchen.

“So, what’s with you and my secretary?” Logan asked curiously as they moved far enough away they were out of ear-shot from those at the table. “She an ex?”

“She’s more than that,” Weevil said cryptically, apparently refusing to elaborate, and Logan didn’t get a chance to question the Mexican further as he grabbed the dessert off the counter and headed through to the table with it without a word.

“Well, that’s just rude,” Logan muttered to himself as he finished loading the dishwasher.

“You know they say talking to yourself is the first sign of madness,” said a voice behind him, startling him just slightly as he turned to find Annabelle there.

“Believe me, my madness was established long ago,” Logan assured her with a smirk.

Annabelle seemed like a decent enough woman, average to pretty in looks, decent figure, and a sense of humour. There was nothing bad to say about her so far, and yet Logan knew she’d never be enough for him. She had no spark, no fire, not like his Veronica had. Maybe that was why Duncan and Veronica had never been destined to last, Logan thought, because deep down the young Mr Kane had needed something a little more plain and safe than the former Miss Mars who was so far from either of those things.

“Sometimes I wonder if I’m mad to stay with Duncan.” She sighed, catching Logan by surprise a little.

He turned to see her leaning back against the counter top, glass of wine in her hand that was getting emptied a little too fast and refilled immediately from the bottle she found abandoned nearby. She wasn’t the happy wife she had seemed to be at the table, it was evident in her body language and in her eyes, even from across the kitchen.

“Should I ask what you mean by that?” Logan checked, not sure he liked where their conversation tended.

“You know what it means.” Annabelle laughed lightly, rolling her eyes. “We both know we’re number two, always have been, always will be.” She shrugged. “Tonight only makes it feel all the more fake and pointless.” She sighed, finishing off her glass of wine and moving to fill it up again.

Logan walked over and removed both the bottle and the glass easily from her grasp, setting them out of her reach.

“Hey, I don’t know what’s up with you and Duncan, but Veronica and me, we’re solid,” he assured her. “I’m not second best with her, I used to think that, but not anymore. She and Duncan are ancient history,” he said definitely, but it didn’t stop Annabelle looking up at him with sad eyes and an expression of pity.

“Keep telling yourself that, Logan,” she said softly, as she turned to leave the room. “Heaven knows I’m still doing it most of the time.”

Logan watched her go, his previously neutral expression turning into a frown. Sure, he’d been a little nervous about Duncan and Veronica getting to know each other again, only to realise certain feelings hadn’t quite died for either of them, that a flame still burned somewhere deep inside for the other. Still, he hadn’t seriously for a moment considered that his marriage would be put in danger by Duncan Kane, not after all this time, and all that had happened. Now, he couldn’t help but take on board what Annabelle had said, couldn’t help but wonder if she was just a little drunk and overly paranoid, or if he himself was being incredibly naive.


	12. Chapter 12

Though the game of Spin the Bottle in the Kane poolhouse ought to have been all fun and games, the laughter was only half the story. One too many green-eyed monsters were getting awoken as the most inappropriate people were practically forced into intimacy. Lilly Kane was having a great time, happily making out with boys and girls alike - she didn’t mind a little experimentation and the boys certainly had a ball when she and Lizzie went to town with their own shared moment.

Unfortunately, it was right after this escapade that tempers started to flare and tears started to form. Lizzie’s spin landed on Adam who gave the girl an awkward peck on the lips and took his turn at spinning. Somehow he and Mia seemed to have been the only people yet to get close, whilst she and Steve had certainly been getting friendly and that made Adam mad. Sure, he didn’t really want to like the girl but that didn’t mean the feelings went away. Spinning the bottle it landed pointing right in the centre between Mia and Lilly and he tried to play it cool as he questioned it.

“So, that’s Mia, right?” he checked.

“No way, man.” Steve shook his head. “That’s what we call a bottle foul,” he explained. “Totally between two people, so no go.”

“Go to hell, Parker! You just made that up!” Adam yelled at him, looking entirely pissed off.

“Geez, Adam, take a chill pill,” Lilly shook her head. “It’s just a game, and hey, I’m sure Mia will play you a private round later if you ask nice.” She winked, as the girl in question went pink at the implication.

“Lilly, don’t,” her sister snapped, though her meaning wasn’t entirely clear.

Possibly the rest of the circle assumed she was trying to get Lilly to leave Mia alone, but that wasn’t really her intention. Though Maddie had made every attempt to get the bottle to land on Joel on her turn, it hadn’t yet. Somehow her sister had faired better having got two kisses out of the boy and was now demanding her turn again, grabbing up the bottle and making to spin. Maddie could hardly bear to look as the bottle inched past one person and another, landing directly in front of Joel again.

“Well, you know what that means,” the older blonde said suggestively, suddenly launching herself into the boys lap and crushing her lips to his, plunging her tongue right into his mouth as he fell backwards across the carpet with her on top of him.

“Damn!” Lizzie exclaimed at the display.

“Seriously, Lil, ease up on the boy,” Steve urged her.

“Like that wasn’t your plan with Mia,” Adam challenged the blond as he got to his feet. “You’re a hypocrite and an asshole,” he said as the two young men faced off, hardly noticing as Maddie got up and bolted from the room, tears rolling down her face as Lilly and Joel made out like crazy on the floor.

Lizzie scrambled up and away behind Maddie, calling for her to stop though she didn’t. That left Mia, sat between her brother and the girl atop him, and two guys that appeared to be fighting over her. As flattering as that ought to be, she didn’t much care for it.

“Guys will you just stop it?” she said as she stood up and moved to get between them at the very moment Steve lashed out at Adam who was just now getting on his last nerve.

The shove meant for the young Casablancas hit Mia full force, pushing her straight into Adam’s arms and knocking all the breath out of her lungs.

“Oh, Mia.” Steve looked entirely ashamed in an instant. “I didn’t mean to-”

“Just back off!” Adam demanded as he waved a hand in a signal for Steve to stay away as he held the stunned girl beneath his other arm and led her outside into the night air. “You okay?” he asked, as they sat down together on the edge of an abandoned sun lounger.

“No.” Mia shook her head as her breath returned, not loving the fact that Adam seemed to think he’d saved her after all that had happened. “No, I’m not okay, I’m mad as hell,” she admitted as she got to her feet and stood before him, feeling woozy but more so angry at him still. “What is the matter with you?” she asked him, to which Adam looked appropriately dumb.

“What do you mean?” he asked in earnest and Mia shook her head at how stupid this whole situation was.

“I mean you going psycho at Steven,” she told him, a hand at her chest inside which her heart was beating a mile a minute for various reasons. “It was a game, Adam, and I know it got out of hand but-”

Her mad tirade was interrupted as the young man before her suddenly sprung to his feet, hands cupping her face as his lips descended on hers and he kissed her. It was a surprise to Mia but she relaxed in a second into the sweet and tender moment, almost tripping forward in an attempt to keep contact when he pulled away from her. Blinking up at him with wide eyes, she really didn’t know what to say or think as his hands slid to her shoulders holding her steady, though he probably didn’t realise she’d fall if he let go. Adam Casablancas had just kissed her, the most beautiful kiss she’d ever had in her life, Mia realised, and she’d quite forgotten why she was ever mad at him.

“I know it was all a game in there,” he told her softly, “but Mia, I’ve been waiting to do that since the second I first saw you in the hall at Neptune High,” he confessed with a smile playing at his lips. “You have to know that.”

“I don’t...” She shook her head, feeling a little out of it if she were honest. “I just, I got so mad at you because of Josie and then when you were so cocky over me liking you.”

“I know.” Adam winced at the memory of his behaviour. “I know, and I’m sorry. I just really like you is all, and I guess I didn’t deal with it well. Mom says I got her brains and Dad’s lack of common sense,” he told her, as if it were some kind of genuine excuse for the way he’d acted - all it did was make Mia laugh in this moment.

“Yeah, well, I have the combined temper and snark of both my parents,” she admitted with a smile as she stepped in closer to Adam, encouraging his arms around her waist. “That’s a lot for anyone to deal with, I guess,” she conceded as her own arms drifted up and locked around his neck. “Think you can handle it?” she asked softly as they stood close together.

She knew she should probably be acting smarter than this, after all he had been kind of an ass tonight. Still, Mia wasn’t about to admit she was perfect, and her friends and brother had certainly acted less than great at this party. Nobody was right all the time and nobody behaved impeccably at every turn either. The most important thing right now, she realised, was she felt brave enough to make a move here, and Adam had already proved he was willing to do the same. She wanted this, and she didn’t see why she shouldn’t have it, if only his response now was what she wanted to hear.

“Handle you?” he said with a wicked smirk. “Baby, I’ll do that anytime you want,” he told her, and though she opened her mouth to protest at his suggestive remark, she didn’t get the chance to say a word as he silenced her in the best way possible, with another perfect kiss.

* * *

“Bye, guys!” Veronica and Logan stood on the front porch, his arm around her shoulders, as they waved off all their dinner guests.

It had been a fun night all in all, though Veronica couldn’t help but notice how quiet Logan had gotten. Things had started out just fine, no arguments or nasty comments, despite the fact the alcohol had started flowing and she had renowned enemies at the dinner table, namely her own husband and Eli Navarro! There had been nothing less than civility the whole evening through and yet something was wrong. Veronica wasn’t sure if it was her PI skills that made her notice, or just the fact she just knew Logan so well after so many years as friend, girlfriend, fiancee, and wife.

“Okay,” she said as they headed back inside and she closed the door, leaning her back against it and looking across at him. “Spill it, Echolls,” she said simply, watching that fake look of confusion dawn on his face.

“Spill, what?” he checked, but they both knew it was pointless because she already knew he had a problem.

Veronica could read people like no-one else on the planet, and of all people her husband knew it. Still, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try to play on the limited acting skills he’d inherited from Mom and Dad, even if he knew it’d never work with her.

“Logan,” she said with a look that was enough to tell him there was really no point in pretending.

“It’s nothing.” He sighed. “It’s just... something Annabelle said. It was crazy,” he said, knowing it was, having been telling himself just that all evening, and yet unable to shake the niggling worry in the back of his mind.

“Crazy, how?” Veronica asked, intrigued by the whole thing as she walked over to where her husband was refilling a glass with a shot of scotch.

“Crazy like Duncan’s still in love with you type crazy,” he said in a rush, before knocking back the shot and reaching to pour another.

“That’s ridiculous!” Veronica almost laughed at the absurdity of the very idea. “After all these years, and with us both married to other people with kids and all... Why would she even think that?”

“I don’t know.” Logan shrugged, contemplating the contents of his glass. “I guess he makes her feel like second best,” he said, sending a look Veronica’s way as he downed the contents of his glass once again and slammed it against the table before walking past her towards the stairs. “I’m going to bed,” he muttered as his wife stared after him a moment.

His attitude was as if he was the one who felt hard done by in all of this, as if he believed not only what Annabelle had said about Duncan loving Veronica, but also that she might feel that way about her ex too! That was even more insane than Duncan still having those feelings for her, and Veronica intended to tell her husband just that, a steely look settling in her eyes as she stormed up the stairs after him.

“You can stop being an ass right before you even begin, Logan,” she told him angrily from the bedroom door as she glared at him.

“I’m being an ass?” he said with an almost amused look as he sat down on the edge of their bed and started unbuttoning his shirt. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

“Logan, I am not having this fight with you again, not after all these years, and certainly not when you’re drunk,” she told him, pointing an angry finger his way. “You know that Duncan and me were over years and years ago-”

“Why, Veronica?” he asked as he turned to looked at her, amusement from moments before now replaced with an expression caught between pained and nasty. “Because you actually loved me more?” he challenged her. “Or because Duncan had to leave town and I was the next best thing?”

The anger, frustration, and hurt all welled up inside Veronica to the point where she just didn’t know how to speak. She thought they’d come so far, that they were so happy. The way Logan was looking at her and speaking to her now, it took her right back to high school, the year when they did nothing but hurt each other. He had no idea how easily he could wound her, he couldn’t possibly or he wouldn’t be doing this to her now. She couldn’t give an explanation or fight against him, not least because she knew in this state he wouldn’t listen at all. Besides, Veronica honestly wasn’t sure she could form words without screaming like a banshee or crying like a child. Turning on her heel she was gone from the room in an instant, slamming the door shut behind her.

Pelting down the stairs and out of the front door, slamming that too, she didn’t hear her husband come after her or call her name, she was too busy trying to get out. Logan stood a few stairs down from the top, staring at the door his wife had just exited through. He hated himself for talking to her that way and the moment he’d seen the pain cross her face and the tears well in her eyes he knew he was being an ass just like she said. He shouldn’t have said those things to her, he knew he wasn’t second best, even if the thought had crossed his mind years ago when they were teens.

Twenty years together, two children, all the sacrifices they’d made for each other, and good and bad times they’d shared. Her love was not something he ever ought to question, any more than he would expect her to question his. Twenty years and apparently all he had really learnt to do was hurt his wife as much as his father used to hurt his Mom, albeit with words and implications instead of threats and beatings.

Slamming down the rest of the stairs, Logan went back to the drinks cabinet and picked up the bottle of scotch from before. Glass be damned, he just pulled off the top and put the opening to his lips, gulping down as much as he could bear to take in one hit. Solace was rarely found in the bottom of a bottle, but it was all Logan had right now.


	13. Chapter 13

Mia was reluctant to leave Adam’s arms, and even less eager to go back into the poolhouse where mayhem had broken out just minutes before. Still, she did want to know if Maddy was okay, which is what she asked Lizzie who stormed back into the room at that moment

“She’s a bitch!” was the response. “And I’m going home,” Lizzie declared as she grabbed up her things and shoved her way out of the room, leaving Adam staring after her with a frown on his face.

“What the hell?” he asked the room in general, though Lilly was now all over Steven and Joel was gone from sight - it seemed he might be the one making the heaving sounds in the next room.

“I need to go find Maddy.” Mia sighed heading off into the main part of the house.

“I’ll come with,” Adam offered, but his new girlfriend shook her head.

“I think maybe this is a girl thing,” she said carefully. “You might wanna make sure Josie is okay?” she suggested, and Adam agreed, heading off in the opposite direction.

Mia wasn’t sure where she was going as she moved through the unfamiliar Kane house. She tried a few doors, some of which were locked, others of which led to empty rooms.

“Maddy!” she called down the hall, and heard some loud sniffling along with a response.

“Go away, Mia!” Maddy yelled, but her friend was not about to do that.

Heading for the place from which the voice seemed to be coming, Mia found she had to go through one room into another to find her. Maddy was curled up on a couch in the darkness of a living space, the throw pulled down over her body as she shook and cried beneath it. Mia sighed, feeling awful for her friend, and knowing it was her brother who was mostly to blame for all this.

“Sometimes Joel is such a dink,” she declared as she came further into the room, flipping on a lamp and sitting down next to Maddy.

“I don’t care about your dumbass brother,” she snapped back, wiping her face with the back of her hand. “I just heard my folks yelling is all. They fight a lot lately.” She shook her head, mad at herself for letting more hot tears escape down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry about your parents,” Mia sympathised, not really sure what to say since she didn’t have much experience with warring family; her Mom and Dad were more likely to embarrass her with their PDAs than upset her with anger, she was sure. “Maddy, I know that’s not the only reason you’re crying,” she said then, putting a comforting hand on the girls shoulder. “I’m so sorry about Joel”

“It’s not your fault.” Maddy sniffed, reaching for the box of tissue on the table and cleaning up her face. “I don’t even think it’s Joel’s really. I was dumb to think he’d like me when he could have Lilly.”

“I don’t want to diss your sister, but I really don’t see what’s so great about her.” Mia shook her head. “And Joel only thinks she’s cool because... well, you know how it is with guys being ruled by their southern brain more than the one in their head.” She rolled her eyes, gaining a ghost of a smile from her friend.

“I’m mad at her too, at Lilly,” Maddy explained. “She always has to have everything I want. It’s been like that since we were kids, and I try to cut her some slack, with her Mom dying before she was born and all.” She sighed. “But sometimes I just want the attention to be on me for a change, for me to get my own way.”

“Maybe you should talk to Lilly about this,” Mia suggested. “I mean, from what I’ve seen so far she’s not too sensible when she’s drunk or acting out in front of company, but if she’s anything like my brother, she’s a whole other person behind closed doors.”

“She can be.” Maddy nodded. “God, I am so mad at myself for getting so stupid and running away crying like a baby,” she said, with a growl in her voice. “I’m pathetic, right?”

“Of course not,” Mia assured her. “Sometimes you just need to get mad or have a good cry or whatever. It’s good for you.” She smiled, before turning serious. “You know, honestly Maddy, I really think Joel is just blind, and maybe a little drunk tonight, but mostly blind. I really don’t think he’d hurt you on purpose, that’s not his way,” she explained. “He’s just so dumb, he doesn’t even realise you like him.”

“You think I should tell him?” Maddy asked, tilting her head to the side, then blowing her nose loudly.

“Well, you could,” Mia nodded. “But how about you let me talk to him? I know how to handle Joel better than anyone.”

“If you’re sure, thanks, Mia.” Madeleine smiled genuinely, looking much happier for a brief moment, before a frown reappeared on her face. “Oh God, I so have to apologise to Lizzie.”

“Yeah, she didn’t look too happy when she stormed past Adam and me.” Mia shook her head. “Do I even wanna know what you said?”

“Something I shouldn’t have,” Maddy winced. “I was just so mad about Lilly and Joel, and then my Mom and Dad. She was just trying to help but... but I might’ve told her she couldn’t help me because she doesn’t know anything about real relationships, y’know, with her being a lesbian and all, only I didn’t say lesbian so much as... Oh God, I can’t believe I even used that word!”

“Ouch.” Mia winced as she realised what her friend had done. “That might take a little grovelling,” she agreed, “but y’know people that really care about you will forgive the meanest things if you’re truly sorry,” she said, hoping Lizzie and Maddy were good enough friends to overcome one thoughtless comment.

“Tonight’s kind of been a disaster, hasn’t it?” Maddy said with a smile in spite of herself, after all it was ridiculous how badly the night had turned out when it was supposed to be so much fun!

“It’s not a hundred percent bad.” Mia smirked, trying not to be too cheerful when it was clear her friend was quite the opposite. “Adam and I, we, uh... we kind of kissed.”

“Oh my God, Mia, that’s so cool!” Maddy enthused, looking genuinely thrilled at the news. “It was so obvious you liked each other!”

“Really?” Mia didn’t look overly convinced, but she didn’t much care whether her feelings were clear for the world to see or not.

She was thrilled to know that Adam liked her so much because she really liked him too. She’d never really had a serious boyfriend before, but she’d like very much for Adam to be just that.

* * *

Veronica knew shouldn’t drive when she’d been drinking but she was just so mad at Logan she had to get away fast. Besides, she suspected driving on two glasses of wine was preferable to walking the streets at night, she knew Neptune hadn’t changed so much that was safe to do. Pulling up the car on the side of the road, anger turned to sadness and pain as tears filled her eyes. Dropping her head onto her hands where they rested at the top of the steering wheel, she cried like a child for the marriage she prayed wouldn’t break over this stupid argument.

They were lucky, she and Logan, they really didn’t fight much these days. There had been a couple of rough patches early on, til he adjusted to the way she ran her life, the risks she took in her job. He cared so much about her, it made him mad that she would put herself in danger when he, and later the kids, were waiting at home, wondering if she would ever arrive. They’d got past that, and so many smaller issues that every marriage had to deal with. Duncan was a distant memory, hardly ever mentioned, and not at all in a bad way. Veronica had made a mistake going back to him their Senior Year in high school, they both knew it, and Logan had forgiven her so long ago - at least, Veronica thought he had. Now the whole thing was getting dragged up again and she couldn’t stand it.

Deep in thought and drowning in her own tears, Veronica was oblivious to the figure outside her window and jumped violently, hand going immediately for the glove box where her taser and gun both lived, as someone tapped on the glass by her head.

“Duncan?” she said with a sniff as his face was illuminated by a street light.

Winding down the window, she stared up at him, her tear-stained face looking as sad as he himself felt as they stared at each other.

“Hey, Veronica,” he said, forcing half a smile.

“What are you doing out here?” she asked, almost not wanting to know, as she realised there was a definite red mark on his cheek, a hand print she was sure.

“Maybe the same thing as you?” he suggested, knowing that they didn’t need her detective skills to figure out the same fight had occurred in two houses tonight. “Annabelle and me, we got into a fight,” he admitted, as she nodded she understood.

“Get in,” she offered, unlocking the passenger door then winding her own window up again.

Duncan climbed into the car, the pair sitting in silence a moment as Veronica wiped her face clean with her hands.

“I’m guessing you and Logan...” he started to ask, and she interrupted with her answer.

“Yeah.” She nodded once. “Yes, we had a fight. Can you guess what about?” she asked, sarcasm evident in every word of her question.

The look that passed between the ex couple conveyed everything that didn’t need to be said. If both couples had fought after what had seemed a pleasant evening, there could only be one reason for either argument.

“I’m sorry.” Duncan sighed, looking at his hands in his lap.

“Why?” Veronica frowned, not understanding that at all. “It’s not your fault, or mine,” she said, now her sadness had subsided and anger erupted once again. “Just seems we both married jealous idiots!” she snapped, slamming her hand on the steering wheel and making Duncan physically jump. “I’m sorry,” she said immediately, not least because she’d just described not only Logan but also Annabelle as some kind of fool.

“Are they?” he asked her, looking out through the windscreen then over at Veronica whose face was half-hidden by shadows. “Are they idiots?”

“Duncan, what are you-?” Veronica began to ask, startled beyond reason as she felt his hand creep behind her head as he leant in close to her. “Duncan!” she tried to move away as his lips descended on hers. “Duncan, stop it!” she said, shoving him away and slapping him across the face.

“Veronica, I’m sorry, I-” he began to apologise, backing off with his hands up in surrender.

“What the hell is that going to achieve, Duncan?” she yelled at him, eyes flashing with anger. “God, are you a complete moron?”

“Maybe,” he said, nodding once. “Or maybe I’m just brave enough to admit that Annabelle might be right,” he told her, even as one hand went to his stinging cheek. “Veronica, we used to be so good together. You have to remember,” he said, looking almost desperate as she glared at him.

“Duncan, that was a very long time ago,” she reminded him, losing all will to be angry as she saw the look of confusion on his face. “Okay, yes, the first time it was good, really good.” She smiled vaguely at the memory of a much simpler time so many years ago. “But even the second go around, Duncan, you had to know like I did that it wasn’t the same.” She shook her head. “By the time you left with baby Lilly, God, it hurt like hell to lose you,” she admitted, dashing Duncan’s hopes just the moment she had raised them, “but because you were one of my best friends,” she told him.

“I don’t understand.” He shook his head, evidentially lost.

“What I’m saying, Duncan,” she tried to explain as she turned in the driver’s seat to face him, “is that I... I do love you, I always have and I always will, but as a friend,” she explained. “We were kids when we supposedly fell in love, this far down the line... it doesn’t mean much,” she told him, not wanting to hurt him but knowing she had to say this, had to make him understand this was the truth. “What I feel for Logan, it’s deeper and stronger than anything else, and I will not let that slip away just because we live within driving distance of each other again,” she said, feeling emotional all over again as he turned away from her, clearly upset himself.

“What if it’s not that simple for me?” he said, putting a hand to his head. “What if Annabelle is right, that I can’t ever love her enough because of you?” he asked turning to face her once again.

Veronica could only sadly shake her head as she replied.

“Then I’m sorry,” she said honestly, “for you and for Annabelle. I’m truly sorry, but it is not my fault that you’re stuck in the past,” she told him, closing her eyes against his sad and angry features, and wincing as he suddenly slammed out of the car.

Veronica soon had her head back on her steering wheel as she cried. She hated to hurt Duncan that way, but he had to know how she really felt. Perhaps now more than ever, Veronica knew herself just how true her words had been. She loved Logan and their children more than anything else in the world, and that wasn’t ever going to change. She only hoped when he sobered up he would see that, and how stupid he was to ever doubt her.


	14. Chapter 14

Veronica wasn’t sure how long she’d been out of the house. After her encounter with Duncan and the flood of tears that had followed, she’d driven around trying to get her head together. She’d stopped at a diner on the edge of town and got herself a coffee that was cold long before she finished it. She had to think seriously about everything, about how she was going to handle this situation. If she told Logan what had happen with Duncan it might make things worse, but if he found out later... Veronica had learnt long ago that honesty was the only way to work things out, even if it did sometimes cause pain and fighting and such in the short term. Right now she felt almost as bewildered as the seventeen year old version of herself that had been caught between two guys that supposedly loved her. At least this time around she was sure of her heart, sure that her husband was the man she always wanted to be with. The problem was getting him to remember that now that Duncan was back in their lives.

After what might have been one hour or several, Veronica wasn’t sure, she realised the only way to really make sense of this situation was to face it. She and Logan had to talk, even if that led to a fight and more badness. They had to find a way to work through this before it escalated and left their relationship in an irreversible mess. Surely they’d worked too hard at their marriage to let it fall apart now over something and nothing.

Veronica took a deep breath as she reached her own front door, unlocked it and went inside. The clock in the hall told her it was almost five in the morning, something she should’ve guessed from the dawn light peeking in through the roughly pulled drapes of the living room. Half lit by the weak sunlight was the form of her husband asleep on the couch, a half empty bottle of scotch on the coffee table nearby. The thought that he might be drunk made Veronica wince, not because he would be violent or anything, he’d never laid a hand on her that way, but he could be obnoxious and childish when he’d been drinking heavily.

“Veronica?” Logan stirred as she opened up the drapes, letting a sudden flood of sunlight hit him full in the face.

“How much have you had to drink?” she asked snippily, picking up the bottle and waving it at him.

“Not much, I swear,” he told her, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, last nights clothes looking entirely rumpled as he did so. “I started,” he admitted, “but then I heard this voice in my head, sounded a lot like you actually.” He smirked slightly as he gazed up at her. “Anyway, it was something in the region of ‘Stop drinking, Logan, you’re already behaving like a dumbass and the scotch won’t help’.”

“That does sound like me,” Veronica dead-panned as she sighed and picked up the bottle from the table, intending to take it back to the drinks cabinet.

Logan reached out to her as she moved past the couch, catching her wrist in his hand.

“Veronica, I am so, so sorry,” he told her, and there was no doubt in the blonde’s mind as she gazed down into his eyes that he meant it sincerely. “I don’t know why I accused you like that and... and I’m just sorry, okay?” He begged her with his tone and eyes to understand, to not be mad at him even though he knew his behaviour had given her every right to hate him.

“I’m sorry too,” she admitted, dropping down onto the couch beside him and replacing the bottle on the coffee table as she turned to face him. “Logan, what you accused me of, you should know how much that hurt me.” She shook her head sadly. “I would never, ever cheat on you with anyone, and I never once regretted choosing to spend my life with you,” she promised him, making him feel even worse for the things he’d said before, “but Annabelle might not have been completely paranoid about Duncan,” she admitted, making her husband look at her strangely.

“What do you mean?” he checked, the tone of his voice worrying Veronica just a little.

She’d seen Logan fly off the handle before and over such minor indiscretions. Whilst he never once raised a hand to her or the kids and she knew he never would, he still had issues with keeping his temper in check where others were concerned sometimes. He was worse as a teen and had mellowed some in his adulthood, but this whole thing with Duncan was bringing out the reckless and violent streak in him that Veronica hadn’t missed at all these past few years.

“I saw Duncan while I was out,” she admitted. “He and Annabelle had a fight too, only he wasn’t as guilt free as I was. He said he still has feelings for me,” she explained, “but Logan, that does not mean I feel the same,” she added quickly, getting hold of his hands in hers and making him look her in the eye. “I love you and only you. You know that.”

“I do.” He nodded in agreement. “I should’ve known better than to accuse you.”

“Yeah, you should,” she told him definitely. “Please, Logan, don’t ever let that happen again. I don’t want to lose what we have but I can’t live in fear of this same fight coming up over and over,” she told him tearfully, surprised she had anymore emotion inside of her after so many hours and yet here it was again.

“You don’t have to,” he promised her, putting a hand to her face and wiping away one stray tear as soon as it fell. “I love you, Veronica,” he swore, and that she had always known to be true, from the first time he told her to now.

“I love you too,” she replied in kind, leaning in closer as they literally kissed and made up.

* * *

In a house where the breakfast table alternated between comfortably silent and happily chatty, today there was a whole different vibe in the Kane household. The party guests from the night before had left already, some before dawn and others right after. The last to go had been the Echolls twins, and the Casablancas, leaving Maddy alone with her feuding parents shooting icy glances across the table, and her slutty sister who had made her so mad without apparently noticing.

“Pass the juice please, Dad?” Lilly said cheerily, and Duncan shifted the carton her way, barely glancing from his newspaper in the process. “Thanks,” she said with a little less enthusiasm, before muttering. “Geez, who died?”

“Mind your manners, Lilly,” Annabelle snapped, taking a good long drink of her own juice, nobody else at the table realising there was distinctly more vodka than orange in the glass.

“She never will,” Maddy said sadly. “Excuse me,” she added as she dropped her fork onto her plate and left the table, her eggs and bacon barely touched.

Annabelle put her hand to her head and sighed, as Duncan glanced up from his paper at last.

“Did you two have a fight, Lilly?” he checked with his elder daughter who swallowed her mouthful and shook her head.

“Not really.” She shrugged as she sipped her juice. “But I’ll go see what’s up, give you two some time to figure out your problems too,” she said as she got up from the table and went in search of Maddy, leaving her parents alone for a moment, until Annabelle muttered something unintelligible and also left the room.

Lilly found her sister upstairs in her room, throwing school books around her desk like they’d all done something to upset her. The blonde had a feeling she was more likely to be the one who caused Maddy’s bad mood, despite what she said to the parentals.

“Y’know, I figured if you liked him enough you might actually fight for him.” She sighed, leaning against the door frame. “Or if he liked you he might not be all over me,” she said thoughtfully, only serving to make Maddy more annoyed.

“Like any guy is going to choose me over you,” she humphed, hating that tears were coming to her eyes even now. “I guessed he was always going to like you better but I thought just maybe as my sister you’d care enough to say no for once in your life!” she yelled, getting to her feet and flouncing across the room to her closet, mostly so she could hide behind the door.

Lilly actually felt bad then. It didn’t happen to her very often, but where Madeleine was concerned, she was able to feel guilt and pain. Mostly she did what suited her and to hell with the consequences. Occasionally, that behaviour came back to bite her on the butt. She was twenty-one years old, she really ought to have known better than cradle-snatch a seventeen year old boy that she knew her little sister wanted for herself. She’d rationalised it away with those reasons she spoke of before - she thought Joel would pick Maddy over her, she thought maybe little sis would fight for her man. Lilly had been wrong and she’d hurt her sister badly, which in turn hurt herself.

“Maddy.” She sighed. “Sweetie, I’m sorry-” she said sincerely.

“No, you’re not!” Maddy snapped anyway, even though she was pretty sure her sister wasn’t lying. “You don’t care about me, only yourself!” she shouted, slamming the closet door.

“That’s not fair,” Lilly argued as she came into the room and got hold of the younger girl by the shoulders. “Maddy you know I love you, and you are way more important than some high school boy,” she told her, though her sister wouldn’t look at her yet. “Mad, I really am sorry. I guess I just got carried away and stuff.” She shrugged as Maddy finally glanced up at her.

“It’s not just last night,” she told her at which Lilly nodded.

“I know,” she agreed. “and it’s not an excuse but... y’know I’m good with guys, and playing up to them, getting attention, it helps with everything else,” she tried to explain. “Mom and Dad think I screw around at college to piss them off but honestly I’m just not smart enough to be the academic they want me to be.”

“Lilly, that’s crap.” Maddy shook her head, though honestly it made her wonder if it really was so untrue.

“I’m not lying, Mad,” the older girl swore as she sat down on the edge of her sisters bed. “I’m kind of flunking out.” She sighed. “And Saturday I got a little dumb, somewhere between the vodka and the party games... I’m really sorry you got hurt, really,” she said so seriously, Maddy couldn’t doubt her sister was sincere.

With a sigh she sat down beside her on the bed and put her head on her shoulder.

“I know you’re sorry,” she admitted. “I don’t think it was just you and Joel that got to me anyway.”

“You heard Mom and Dad fighting last night,” Lilly guessed, since she’d caught what she figured was Round Two some time in the early hours of this morning. “Mom needs to lay off the bottle, and Dad needs to remember where he put his spine,” she said snippily. “Parents, huh? What you gonna do?” She sighed making Maddy giggle.

Sometimes she drove her nuts, but there were times when Lilly was really cool to have for a sister.

* * *

“Are you gonna keep this up all day?” Joel asked his sister from the passenger side of the car. “Because I could get used to the quiet,” he told her, commenting on the fact she’d spoken barely two words to him since the night before.

“I don’t know what to say to you, Joel.” Mia sighed as she pulled up at a red light and looked across at him. “I can’t believe the way you acted last night, you were a complete ass, and I was almost ashamed you were my brother!” she yelled too loudly for Joel’s delicate head and with far too harsh a tone for his liking.

He’d like to argue with her but unfortunately he knew she was right. From what he remembered of the night before’s events, Joel wasn’t proud of any of it. Sure, he’d made out with Lilly, an older chick with a body and experience that most seventeen year old boys would kill to get some of. For most young guys it was all a fantasy, they never got to do it, Joel figured that if they did, they might find they were a little disappointed.

“Hey, sis,” he said quietly, though Mia barely paid attention, concentrating on the road like she should. “For what it’s worth, I feel awful, and I don’t just mean my head,” he admitted. “I made an idiot of myself... and you, I guess. I don’t know, I just, I liked that Lilly seemed to want me-”

“You were thinking with the brain south of your belt instead of the one I know you have in your head!” Mia snapped, as she rounded the next corner, still finding the roads just a little unfamiliar here.

“Yeah, like girls don’t do the same thing sometimes!” He rolled his eyes. “C’mon, Mia, part of the reason you like Adam Casablancas is because of the way he looks.”

“Oh, don’t you dare make me as shallow as you!” she said angrily, as she glanced at her brother and then back at the road. “If I was like that, I’d’ve thrown myself in Adam’s lap way before now... kind of like you did with Lilly Kane!”

“I’m not saying you only like him for his looks,” Joel tried to explain, knowing better than to flair Mia’s temper too much. “I’m just saying, it’s a part of why you like him. If he’s a decent guy underneath the six-pack or whatever, then that’s cool,” he continued. “Unfortunately, the only part of Lilly to like is on the outside. Honestly, the only thing I felt when she kissed me was nausea.” He shuddered, as Mia shook her head.

“That wasn’t her kissing you so much as the vodka bouncing off your stomach wall,” she told him snippily. “So, you and Lilly aren’t...?”

“Me and Lilly aren’t anything, okay?” Joel told her. “Not that I have to tell you about my love life.”

“Love life,” Mia echoed with a chuckle. “Like you have one.”

“Yeah, as much as you did until yesterday!” he shot back, with a similar burst of laughter, the argument between them over as fast as it had begun it seemed.

“Whatever.” She waved away the whole thing since it was a pointless and fruitless discussion. “I need to talk to you about something else, kind of in the same ballpark but-”

“Hey, Dad gave me the birds and bees talk a long time ago, sis, and I don’t need a recap from you,” he said definitely with a hand gesture that said, ‘Stop right there’.

“Eew!” was Mia’s automatic reaction as she took one hand of the steering wheel just long enough to sock him in the arm, though with no real force. “I’m serious, Joel, what are you gonna do about Maddy?”

“I dunno, what am I supposed to do about her?” he asked, looking completely bemused.

“Oh, come on, do not pull that crap with me!” Mia insisted. “I know you know she likes you,” she said definitely as she finally pulled the car onto the driveway and turned to face her brother. “Joel, come on”

“Yeah, yeah, maybe,” he shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know, Maddy’s cool, but I just... I didn’t really think about her that way. She’s a friend.”

“Well then tell her that, please,” his sister urged him. “If you don’t want to date her she deserves to be told, put out of her misery, otherwise she’s going to spend the rest of time waiting for her chance with you.”

Joel thought about Mia’s words and knew she was right. He was aware that Maddy liked him, though he’d tried to ignore it in the hopes she’d get the message. Clearly some girls were more complicated than that, something he ought to know given the way his sister and his mother could be sometimes. Still, he wasn’t so sure telling Maddy they had to be just friends was the greatest plan. There didn’t seem much point in burning a bridge that might take you some place until you’d figured out how cool the other side was.

“I’ll talk to her,” was the only promise Joel made, and Mia did at least look satisfied with his answer as they got out of the car and headed inside.

Brother and sister were both a little surprised when they came into the house and were not greeted by their parents. They half expected them to have their noses pressed to the glass waiting for them to come home, since Veronica in particular usually panicked that something bad had happened to them if they were out by themselves a minute longer than she thought necessary. Instead, Mia and Joel found their parents curled up together on the couch, fast asleep.

* * *

“Are you gonna have that dreamy ass smile on your face all day?” Adam checked with his sister as she sat beside him in the front passenger seat of the car, sporting a grin that hadn’t shifted since he caught up with her this morning.

“Maybe,” Josie told him, poking out her tongue at her brother who could not upset her today. “Last night was so cool, wasn’t it?” She sighed, as Adam glanced at her with a frown on his face.

“What exactly happened after you ran out of that poolhouse, Josie?” he asked her, not exactly happy about her current mood.

Sure, it was nice to see his little sister happy. They gave each other a hard time but when push came to shove they were family and they did love each other. Still, she was acting weird. The last he saw of her she was running away in tears thanks to something dumb he’d said and then next she was grinning like the cat that ate the canary.

Adam had found his sister on a swing in the Kane house grounds. She was alone but happy enough, a little ways from the staff quarters and the kitchen. He’d apologised for the way he spoke to her and she’d immediately said it was fine. Apparently the cook had given her something to eat and she’d hung around for a while, having a great time. Whilst he would never accuse Josie of lying, Adam wondered from then to now if there was more to it than that.

“You wanna know what happened?” she asked him now, a little bored of him asking her anyway and deciding she had no real reason to hide, especially given the way Adam and Mia had been playing tonsil tennis before they left the Kane house.

“I just asked, didn’t I?” he rolled his eyes, wishing she’d just spill already.

“Fine. I met a guy.” She smiled, blushing in spite of herself as she admitted it.

“A guy?” Adam was so surprised, he momentarily lost control of the car, though thankfully the road upon which he swerved was currently empty. “You met a guy?” he repeated as his sister took her turn at an eye roll.

“Yes! For God sakes, I think you’d be less stunned if I said I met Jimmy Hoffa!” Josie said with a shake of her head. “Y’know, I’m almost sixteen, I do know what guys are... and what I like about them.” She smirked, as Adam’s eyes went wide.

“Oh, I do not need to hear that!” he exclaimed, feeling entirely nauseous. “Who the hell did you meet at the Kane house anyway?” he asked, curious in spite of his own better judgement.

At the end of the day, he knew he was going to have to deal with the fact that Josie was much less of a kid than she used to be. It hadn’t occurred to him for so long that she was at the age for dating, maybe because most boys in school spent more time picking on her than asking her out. She wasn’t exactly a babe, though of course Adam probably wouldn’t notice if she was, being her brother and all. Still, if she was going to start going on dates or whatever, he want to know who with, if only for the sake of looking out for her, though he’d never tell her that.

“His name is Antonio,” Josie told him somewhat dreamily. “His grandfather is the head gardener at the Kane house. He totally took care of me and... he’s just so perfect.”

“Nobody’s perfect,” Adam told her snippily. “’Cept maybe me,” he added with a smirk as Josie hit him across the arm with a giggle.

“You’re so full of yourself.” She laughed. “Like you don’t think Mia is perfect? You had your tongue so far down her throat I thought you were gonna choke her, and every time you see her you practically melt into a puddle of goo on the floor,” she told him, much to Adam’s embarrassment and annoyance.

“That is so much crap,” he argued, but half-heartedly since he knew she was mostly right.

Pulling the car up outside their house, Adam shut off the engine and moved to get out of the vehicle. His sisters hand on his arm stopped him and her sober looks had him worried for a minute.

“Let’s make a deal,” she said seriously. “You don’t embarrass me in front of Antonio or make a big deal out of my dating him, and I’ll promise to do the same for you and Mia.”

Adam looked thoughtful a moment before he answered.

“Deal, on one condition,” he warned her, almost taking her hand to shake but changing his mind last minute. “If he tries anything and you don’t want to... If anything happens and you want me to kick his ass...” he tried to make his point but felt kind of stupid about it, and was entirely grateful when Josie smiled apparently understanding anyway.

“If I need you, I’ll holler,” she assured him, as they shook hands on their deal, then leaned in to share a hug that hadn’t happened in the longest time.

Mac and Dick could hardly believe their eyes as they watched their kids from the window. It was quite the touching moment between brother and sister.


	15. Chapter 15

It was lunch time on Monday before Joel got a chance to catch up with Maddy. Truth be told, he wasn’t exactly looking forward to the conversation they must have. It was mostly on his sister’s insistence that he was talking to her like this at all, but honestly, the decent person that existed within Joel Echolls knew it had to be done. He knew he was hurting Maddy, messing around with her sister, Lilly, and right in front of her too, and now had to apologise for his behaviour. If his parents knew about all this, they’d insist upon it, and he knew it. Still, it was going to be awkward, and he knew from the way she was grinning at him as he approached that his actions hadn’t dented her affection for him at all. That was one thing Joel wasn’t so sure how to deal with. After all, Madeleine Kane was a nice girl, not so much a hottie like her sister, but sweet and cool to hang out with. Dating her, that was a whole other ball game and Joel wasn’t sure he liked her that way. On the other hand, telling her to back off seemed wrong somehow...

“Hey, Maddy.” He forced a smile as he reached her, sat by herself on the low wall by the doors. “What’s up?”

“Not much.” She shrugged as he sat down beside her, dropping his backpack down between his feet. “You?”

“Oh, I was just, er, well... I was thinking,” he told her, looking at anything but her to start off with. “See, your sister-”

“She was using you, Joel,” Maddy interrupted almost immediately. “I’m sorry if that’s harsh, and I know it doesn’t make Lilly sound so great but... she was using you,” she told him honestly as he turned to face her.

“I figured.” He nodded, feeling a little stupid that he hadn’t realised it sooner, or that he had realised and just let it happen anyway. “I guess I was just flattered.” He shrugged.

“She has that affect on guys.” Maddy sighed, clearly a little jealous that she didn’t, even though she knew nobody should act the way Lilly did when it came to men.

“Look, Maddy,” Joel said, taking a deep breath. “I don’t know exactly... well, I acted like kind of jerk Saturday night,” he admitted. “I think maybe I upset you, and I didn’t mean to do that,” he told her with a definite shake of his head.

“I know,” she agreed, forcing a smile, both of them as embarrassed as the other. “I mean, it’s cool, you can’t choose who you like or whatever,” she said, feeling really dumb and unable to look Joel in the eye at all.

He felt a little a better at least, knowing she was embarrassed too. It was somehow comforting to both feel stupid, though neither of them could understand why it should be.

“So, for now, we chalk my stupidity up to the vodka and your sister being insanely hot,” he said, almost regretting the words as soon as they left his mouth as Maddy physically winced. “And we carry on like before? Like friends?” he said hopefully, knowing it was the safest thing to say right now.

It was a long, almost worrying moment until she finally turned to look at him and gave some kind of answer.

“Of course,” she said with a smile that he didn’t know was fake. “Friends is great,” she lied, though he had no idea.

Thankfully the awkward moment didn’t last as their friends approached, hand in hand.

“Hey, you two,” Mia smiled. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything is just fine.” Maddy smiled a little too much and Mia knew immediately that her brother had not been encouraging when it came to the girl’s feelings for him.

It wasn’t Joel’s fault if he didn’t feel that way about her, of course it wasn’t, but Mia knew from experience that unrequited love always hurt. She was lucky this time to have fallen for Adam who felt just the same for her. It was as she turned to look to her new boyfriend that Mia realised she no longer had his attention. Following his gaze, she spotted Josie across the quad with a Hispanic boy beside her, and what appeared to be two of his friends on the opposite side of the table.

“That’s so cool.” She smiled. “Josie deserves to have some nice friends,” she added when Adam looked a little strangely at her.

“Why can’t she have friends that are girls?” he said with a sharp edge to his tone as he practically glared over at the group, who were oblivious to his staring apparently.

“Adam, play nice,” Maddy told him mock-sternly. “Antonio is fine, you know he always comes to our place to help out his grandfather with the gardens and he’s always super-polite and everything.”

“Uh-huh.” Adam nodded, though his steely gaze remained on the boys across the way.

“Hey,” Mia got his attention, putting her hand to his face and physically turning his head to face her so she could kiss him firmly on the lips. “Focus over here, on your own girlfriend,” she practically scolded him but with a smile that made it okay.

“Yes, ma’am.” He smiled, as he kissed her again, only too pleased to do so.

Mia made a mental note to talk to Josie later about her new boyfriend. She didn’t know what kind of relationship the girl might have with her Mom, but if she ever needed someone to talk to, about boyfriends or anything else, she wanted to be there for her if she could.

* * *

Weevil felt stupidly nervous as he walked into the lawyers office; not like years ago when he would have been here to discuss his latest crime, but because he had come here to see a woman that he barely knew how to act around. Marcie had been the love of his life, years after Lilly had passed away. He’d really considered they’d be for the long haul, at least until she moved away and never returned. Now she was back and he had a hundred questions to ask her, questions he couldn’t exactly throw around at Veronica’s dinner party on Saturday night. He had got a promise out of Marcie to go out with him Monday, since she was only working a half day. They would spend the afternoon together and discuss everything that needed hammering out between them. Now, here was the moment, and Weevil wasn’t sure whether he really wanted to know so many things from her, other than if she still felt the same about him as before. He certainly loved her just as much and knew it the moment he’d laid eyes on her at the Echolls place.

“Hey,” a voice startled him to the point where he almost physically jumped, and Weevil turned to see Veronica sitting on a seat by the wall, all alone.

“Hey, V. I wasn’t exactly expecting you to be here,” he told her. “I was coming to take Marcie out,” he explained at which his friend nodded in understanding.

“She’s still in the meeting with Logan, taking notes. Obviously they’re running a little late,” she explained, moving her bag off the seat beside her.

“You got lunch plans too?” Weevil asked conversationally as he sat down, realising his mistake when she opened up her bag and he saw the multitude of gadgets inside. “Oh, one of those 007 lunches.” He smirked. “Some things never change.”

“That’s true,” Veronica agreed, “and I’d like to think our friendship was one of them,” she said, causing him to look oddly at her. “You and Marcie? What’s the deal?” she asked, knowing it was a form of blackmail to play the ‘if we’re not good enough friends for you to share’ card, but doing it anyway.

It was as big an asset as the head tilt and the hair flip she had years ago when they’d first got to know each other, and he knew it too.

“If you must know, Little Miss Nose Where It Doesn’t Belong,” Weevil teased her. “Me and Marcie, we kind had a thing goin’ on for a while.”

“Well, that certainly sounds... romantic,” she said, sarcasm and smirk both evident.

“I don’t do spilling my guts about feelings and all, V,” he reminded her. “You know me, it ain’t the way I’m built, but with Marcie?” He shook his head as he leant forward in his chair, elbows resting on his knees. “Only other time I felt like that about a woman was-”

“Lilly,” Veronica guessed, sure she was right even before Weevil turned to look at her and nodded his head. “So, what happened? If you two were like loves young dream, how come you haven’t seen each other in so long?” she asked, forever the curious one, but her friend had no trouble sharing, after all, Veronica was one oft he few people he knew he could definitely trust.

“Marcie’s aunt got sick, she had to go take care of her,” he explained, as he saw that last day they spent together in his mind, getting a faraway look in his eyes as he recounted it. “I got this feelin’ like I was gonna lose her if I didn’t do somethin’, like she was gonna be the next person to walk out of my life and never come back,” he explained. “So, I asked her to marry me, and she actually said yes, but that we’d wait to make it official and all until she got back to Neptune.” He smiled, the expression fading as quickly as it appeared when he continued. “Trouble was she never did come back here, at least, not til now”

“Wow,” was all Veronica could really find to say to that.

It was like some kind of tragic romantic novel, the girl going away leaving the boy with a promise of a happy ending on her return, only to never come back. Marcie hardly seemed the type to double-cross a man, she was just such a sweetheart and clearly Weevil had always thought so, given how close the couple had apparently been. After Lilly, Veronica wondered if Weevil would ever let himself love again, and after Marcie, she was surprised he was still able to believe he could be happy with a woman. Maybe if Marcie hadn’t returned to Neptune he never would have been, but now he had a chance.

“She must have a reasonable explanation,” the blonde considered. “She doesn’t seem the type to accept your proposal and vanish for the hell of it.”

“That’s what I wanna think,” Weevil agreed, “but until I ask, I ain’t gonna know, and it’s not exactly the kind of question you ask at somebody else’s dinner party,” he said with a look in Veronica’s direction.

“I appreciate the not making of a scene at my house,” she said, putting a hand on his leather-clad arm, “but y’know when you talk to Marcie, I’m sure she’ll have an explanation and everything will work out.”

“Like it did for you and Echolls?” he asked with just a hint of a smirk that made Veronica smile in spite of herself.

“Yes, like me and Logan,” she agreed. “I know you’re never going to like him, Weevil, but believe me, we’re so happy together.”

“I believe it.” He nodded. “If I thought you settled for anything less than that, I’d be pissed at you V, ‘cause you deserve the best, girl.”

“Is this guy bothering you?” said a voice suddenly and Veronica jumped a little when she realised Logan was right there beside her.

“What, this guy?” she reacted quickly, as if she’d known he was there all the time. “Nope, the making out in the broom closet didn’t bother me at all.” She smiled sweetly, loving the look that passed over her husband’s face at the obvious joke she delivered with such sincerity.

“She is joking, right?” Marcie checked, in two minds whether to laugh or cry.

“She is,” Weevil confirmed immediately, shooting a look at V for almost getting him into trouble with her. “You ready to go?” he asked, as he got up from his seat and walked over to the desk where Marcie was shuffling papers around.

“Almost,” she shot him a small smile, that didn’t meet her eyes.

It wasn’t that Marcie wasn’t thrilled to be spending time with Eli again, after all, at one time she’d considered him to be the love of her life. Deep down she still believed he was the only man she would ever feel quite so deeply about, but things were much more complicated now than years ago when they were young. There was so much to talk about, a great deal to explain. Marcie didn’t come off well in the tale she must impart, and she knew it, but Weevil would ask for the truth and that was what he would get from her. It had to be that way if there was going to be any kind of future between them, and though Marcie had considered she’d gotten over Eli Navarro a long time ago, just one look at him on Saturday night had her right back to fifteen years ago or more. She loved him just the same now as she had then, on the day when he asked her to be his always and she agreed. She had not known when she left Neptune that she would not be coming back until recently, though Eli probably assumed it had always been her plan to run away.

“Okay, let’s go,” she said at last, picking up her purse and saying goodbye to Logan and Veronica.

“Aaw, look at ‘em. So cute.” Logan was clearly poking fun as he held Veronica close to him and grinned like an idiot as the two of them watched the other couple leave the building.

“Be nice, Logan,” his wife said with a warning tone, but his eyes sparkled with fun as he gazed down at her.

“And here I thought you loved me for being bad,” he said, leaning in to kiss her.

“I love you just for being you,” she assured him, right before their lips met in a sweet kiss. “Now, let’s go bag some real bad guys.”


	16. Chapter 16

“Y’know I remember a time when it would’ve taken me weeks of whining to get you to take me on a picnic to the beach.” Marcie smiled across at Weevil from the other side of the blanket spread out over the sand.

“Yeah, well,” he said with a smirk on his face as he looked out at the sea. “That was a long time ago. I had a certain reputation to uphold.”

“Oh, I know.” Marcie nodded. “It's weird how things stop being so important when you get older, and priorities change,” she said, the smile slipping from her face as she followed his gaze out across the water.

They’d lasted over an hour, just enjoying each others company and managing to avoid the very serious topic of their break up that Eli still didn’t understand. Marcie knew they had to face up to the truth, that she had to tell him why she never came back to him like she promised to, but it wasn’t easy.

Right now it’d be so simple just to make believe they were still those twenty-somethings with dreams of a happy future, a lot less serious problems weighing on their minds. Eli didn't look any older to her or any less attractive, and from the way he’d ben looking at her last night ay the Echolls house she dared to dream he saw her just as he had years ago too. His asking her out for this afternoon of reminiscing was wonderful if not nerve-wracking. She could not fully enjoy this until the truth was told, and yet she feared Eli’s reaction when he knew all.

“C’mon, Marcie,” he said, as they faced each other again. “Its been a lot of years, a lot of water under the bridge,” he told her. “We ain’t kids anymore, whatever your reason was for not coming back before, you can tell me.”

“I know,” she agreed, though she couldn’t meet his eyes, “but for a while it was nice, just to have you look at me like you used to.” She sighed. “I won’t have that once you know what happened.”

That worried Weevil somewhat, not that he could imagine any situation that would make him love Marcie less. Her leaving him without explanation was a crappy thing to do, she almost broke his heart, and yet he loved her still. Not that he was mushy enough to explain all that to her, at least not here and now, but he did need to know the answer to his question.

“What happened, Marcie?” he asked her again. “You loved me enough when you left,” he said, at least sure of that since he could see the same look in her eyes now as back then, and there was no denying it was a look of love.

“I never stopped, Eli,” she told him honestly, her hand going to his face. “How could I stop?”

“Then I don't get it.” He shook his head, removing her hand from his cheek and holding on tight to her fingers. “I don’t get how we went from you sayin’ you’ll marry me to... to nothing.”

Marcie dragged her hand free from his grasp, shifting to face the sea rather than this man whom she had no clue how to talk to right now. The very next words she spoke had to be her explanation, a speech she’d practiced and rehearsed, on and off for so many years. Here was the moment, the time had arrived and it was now or never. All this time Marcie had been able to hold onto the hope that one day when she told Eli what had happened he would understand, accept her reasons for staying away, and welcome her back into his life and his heart. Now was the reckoning and all hope would be lost if she imparted her tale and found no love left for her in his eyes.

“When I left on that plane for Arizona...” Marcie took in a breath as she continued. “Eli, I had every intention of coming home to you, of marrying you and everything.” She smiled at the memory and the dream of a perfect future she’d once held in her mind and heart. “But when my aunt didn’t get better, and I was away so long, I started to worry,” she explained. “Started to think of all the girls in Neptune that might turn your head whilst I was gone. I trusted you, Eli, I did, but sometimes your mind wanders and-”

“And that ain’t a crime, Marcie,” he told her definitely, not at all offended by her past wonderings about his fidelity.

After all, they’d been younger then and things had been different. Long distance relationships rarely worked out and a couple of weeks had turned into a couple of months all too easily. After that, she just stopped calling and that was the part where Weevil got confused.

“When Aunt Lyssa died,” Marcie continued on, eyes fixed on the horizon a she did so. “God, that was so hard, all I wanted was to call you and ask you to com be with me, but I couldn't do that. I knew you’d drop everything and spend every cent you had to get a flight out to see me, that’d piss off your Uncle Angel and mess up your plan to save for the wedding and all, so I handled it alone... almost alone,” she explained, looking down sadly now.

Marcie took a breath and forced herself to continue, barely glancing at Weevil before her focus went back to the see and sky.

“My aunt's neighbours helped out, Maria and her son, Carlos, they came around a lot, tried to do anything they could,” she explained. “Carlos made a move on me the first week I was there, and right away I told him to back off. I was so in love with you, Eli, it didn't take me a second to make it clear to him we would be friends and that was all,” she said definitely, making Weevil just a little uneasy as she shook her head sadly and went on with her story. “I wasn’t so strong after Lyssa’s funeral. We got to talking and drinking plenty-”

“Don’t tell me, let me guess,” Weevil said a little coldly. “One thing led to another?” he said as Marcie looked over at him and lowly nodded her head. “You really think some sad and drunken one night stand would stop me lovin’ you, Marcie? ‘Cause honestly, you pretty much coulda committed the Great Train Robbery, babe, and I’d still think you walked on water,” he told her, knowing as he said it how dumb it was to be so in love and yet that had been the way he felt years ago, how he still felt about her now if he were honest.

“I know I should’ve known that,” Marcie agreed, feeling so stupid. “Maybe if that was all it was I would’ve come home and everything would’ve worked out,” she said, holding tight onto Weevil’s hand as she looked over at him. “But Eli, but the time I had everything figured out at Lyssa’s and was ready to come home, even though Carlos had left town and I knew I never warned to see him again... there was a part of him that I couldn’t get rid of,” she explained, begging with her eyes for him to understand what she was trying to say without her having to say the words.

“He got you pregnant, didn’t he?” Weevil’s eyes narrowed at the very idea of some a-hole knowing up the girl he wanted to marry, who he'd loved for so long. “Marcie, talk to me,” he urged her when she turned away.

“Yes,” she replied, tears filling her eyes as she glanced his way again. “Eli, as much as I loved you, as much as I knew you loved me, how could I come back and expect you to want me when I was carrying another man’s child?” she cried, and Weevil immediately pulled her into his arms, holding her close.

“Oh, girl, I wish you’d’ve told me all this back then,” he said as he held the sobbing woman tight against him.

Weevil could hardly take in what he was being told. It was a relief to know that Marcie still loved him, that she hadn’t left him for anything less than this very genuine reason. Another man’s child, he could see why she hadn’t come back, why she hadn’t old him. Though it stung a little to think she didn't believe in his love enough to come home and confess all, there was no way Weevil would or could hold that against the woman he had loved so long.

“I’m so sorry, Eli,” she mumbled against his chest, feeling as awful and as stupid as her much younger self had years ago.

“Hey,” he said, moving away to see her face. “I don’t care about what happened, that's... whatever.” He shook his head. “You’re back here now, and if you still feel half as much for me as I still feel for you-”

“I do,” she cut him off, the look in her eyes proving to him she spoke the truth. “Eli, I never stopped loving you,” she promised him.

Though Weevil was not the romantic type as such, and his one-time reputation would’ve been shot to hell had anyone seen or heard him right now, he didn't care. Marcie was the love of his life, he’d been sure of it for years, and now he had the chance to be with her again, he couldn’t wish for anything more.

Lowering his head, he kissed her lips, ensuring she understood from that moment that everything was going to be alright now. He forgave her, he loved her, and none of what had happened in the past was going to matter.

“So,” Weevil smiled as they parted. “I’m guessing there’s gonna be an awkward conversation about me between you and your boy sometimes,” he said with a smirk.

“Antonio,” Marcie told him. “His name is Antonio.”

* * *

“Antonio,” Josie told her parents. “His name is Antonio,” she explained about the boy she had met in the grounds of the Kane house. “And he’s just so...”

“So, what?” Dick checked, narrowing his eyes.

“Just ‘so’, right, sweetie?” Mac smiled at her daughter who nodded in response and put another forkful of dinner into her mouth. “I understand what she means,” the brunette explained to her husband as he looked bemused still. “You know when I first tried to explain to my parents why I loved you, I described you the same way,” she laughed lightly as Dick seemed to like the idea, shrugged off his confusion, and went back to his dinner.

“Girls are officially weird,” Adam muttered as he looked between his mother and sister. “Except for Mia obviously,” he considered, as he finished his meal and put his cutlery down on the side of the plate.

“Hey, I have no problem with you dating Logan’s daughter,” Dick said definitely. “But you treat her right,” he said, pointing at his son with his fork, Mac looking quite proud of her husband’s attitude for all of five seconds before he continued. “Because if she’s anything like her mom...” He shook his head. “Geez, Ronnie was badass, and not always in the good way.”

“Dick!” Mac shot him a scathing look. “Veronica was always a good friend, and she did what she had to do for the job she did,” she reminded him.

“Whatever, babe,” was the only answer she got out of Dick, as they finished up their dinner. “Obviously, I think girls should be treated right anyway,” he threw in as he thought about it. “I mean like if this Antonio kid lays a hand on my baby girl, I’ll rip his Mexican head clean off.”

“Dad!” Josie gasped. “Antonio is a nice guy!” she protested.

“I’m sure he is, sweetheart,” Mac sympathised, “but y’know you’re Dad is just trying to be nice. He cares about you, and y’know there are some people that seem nice, and then they turn out to be... less nice,” she said, somewhat awkwardly.

“Yeah, especially losery poor people from the other side of town, who obviously only wanna get with us for our cash,” Dick said thoughtlessly, mot even realising what he’d said, until he glanced Mac’s way and saw the look that had come over her face. "Oh, babe, I didn't...”

Before he had a chance to say anymore, his wife was up from her seat and gone from the room, slamming the door behind her. Dick felt awful, though he hadn't meant to say anything against Mac, he knew she never wanted him for his money, she loved him and he marvelled at the fact of it every day. Unfortunately, despite the fact he had managed to grow up in a lot of ways as he should have these past twenty years, his ability to say entirely the wrong ting without any effort at all remained fully intact.

“Someone should go after her,” Adam said as he stared after his mother, knowing that the person to go should also be his Dad - clearly he had the intuition of Mac rather than Dick.

The blond took the hint at least and was up from his chair in second, hurrying after his wife. Unfortunately, he made it to the front window just in time to see her jump in her care and drive away out of sight.


	17. Chapter 17

By the time Logan got home Monday night he was ready to just fall into bed. It would’ve been a nicer plan if he could’ve brought his wife home with him, but unfortunately, it was not to be. The life of a PI rarely if ever stopped, and whilst Veronica did her best to work more regular hours and be at home for her husband and kids, Logan forgave her the occasional all-nighter. This afternoon had gone well, and they’d pretty much bagged the bad guys like she wanted, but the paperwork that followed was a bitch as she had to give statements to the Sheriff and all. Whilst Keith would keep his daughter tied up at the station no longer than he had too, it still took more time than Logan wanted to spend. He had work in the morning and needed his rest, besides which, neither he nor Veronica were overly happy leaving their kids home alone all night, even at the age of seventeen.

It was a surprise to Logan to find that whilst his daughter appeared to have gone to bed already, as he would’ve expected, Joel was still up, sitting on the couch in the dark, staring at the TV still. His father would have yelled at him were it not for the fact Joel did not appear to actually be watching television at all, and hadn’t even noticed there was someone else in the room. Clearly, something was on his mind, and whilst Logan would much rather not be having a deep and meaningful with his son at this precise moment, he’d feel worse if he didn’t help him out.

“Okay, what’s up?” he asked, as he picked up the remote and switched off the TV, making Joel jump suddenly.

“Oh, hey, Dad.” The boy smiled very briefly. “I was just...” he gestured towards the TV, words dying on his tongue when he realised the screen was now blank and he wasn’t sure what had been on it when it wasn’t.

“Yeah.” Logan nodded as he sat down on the couch beside his teenage son. “Hence the question, what’s up?” he asked again, mentally preparing himself for any question that came flying his way.

There wasn’t much Logan would be shocked at or wouldn’t understand. Drink, drugs, sex, it was a pretty much been there, done that deal for Mr Echolls, not that he shared all the details of his formative years with the kids. Still, he had a wealth of knowledge to draw upon, and was the best father he possibly could be to both Amelia and Joel. Though he knew he wanted to take care of them because they were his and he loved them, Logan was also patently aware that he was always making a conscious effort not to turn into his own uncaring and abusive parent. He never raised a hand to either of his children, he tried not to yell until he knew the facts, and he was always ready to listen if his kids needed to talk.

“Dad, you dated a lot of girls in high school, right?” Joel said, looking a little awkward in the dim light as he faced his father and attempted to have a grown-up conversation about what was bothering him.

“Well, I guess I had my fair share,” Logan said carefully, ever mindful of the example he might set with the wrong words. “Joel, if you need part two of the whole birds and bees thing-”

“No,” his son said definitely with shake of his head. “No, I got what I need for now,” he explained. “I just... See, I thought I really liked Lilly Kane,” he began, causing the weirdest feeling inside of his father who had spoken the same words many years ago about a girl of the same name. “I thought she liked me too, but it was all... y’know, physical,” Joel explained, hoping he was making sense to his father.

“Well, y’know, Joel, sometimes that’s all an attraction is between two people,” Logan told him. “Sometimes that’s the start of something more, and sometimes it's not enough.”

“Yeah.” Joel nodded his head. “I think I get that now, but that’s not so much the problem.”

“Well then you want to tell me what is before we both die of anticipation?” Logan suggested with a smirk that made Joel feel a little more at ease, after all, this was just his Dad and he was young once, as he so often reminded them.

“Maddy likes me, a lot, I think,” he said then. “Which is cool because I like her, but I don’t know if I like her enough to, y’know, like date and stuff,” he explained. “She’s kinda hot, I guess, but not really like her sister...” he went on, though Logan had to admit to himself at least he gave up listening around then.

This was like a parallel of his own life somehow. The day he met Veronica Mars at the age of only twelve, he’d thought she was hot. Even at that young age he’d known she was special and in some strange way he’d just wanted to be close to her. Then Lilly had started showing an interested. She’d got her womanly figure already, a little more than her friend had, and she was willing to use it. Logan had become so distracted, even considered himself in love with the Kane girl, and he and Veronica remained only friends until much later. How simple things might’ve been if he’d just asked out the girl he really liked from the beginning, things might’ve been so different, but in the end the same result would’ve come from it.

“Son,” he said, when Joel was finished rambling about his problem with choosing between the Kane girls. “Whatever you choose to do, there’ll be ups and down. Your girlfriend, whoever she is, is gonna get pissed at you for stuff you don’t understand, and sometimes you’re gonna think you picked the wrong girl,” he promised his son who looked less than thrilled by what he was being told.

“But you chose Mom, and you’re happy like all the time,” he pointed out, eliciting a chuckle from his Dad.

“It wasn’t always smiles and rainbows, Joel,” he assured him, leaning back into the couch cushions and staring off into space as he recalled events past. “Me and your mom, we fought a lot, and for a long time. There were times, God we hurt each other so much, I don’t know how we came back from that.” He shook his head. “But it was just meant to work out, so it did,” he said with a shrug. “I know it’s not what you want to hear, Joel, but sometimes you just have to go with your gut and hope you made the right choice. Nine times out of ten if you didn’t, you get the chance to fix it later, however long the wait for that chance might be.”

Joel was thoughtful for a long moment. He liked Maddy a lot, and she clearly liked him. The idea that she might be the girl for him in much the same way his Mom was right for his Dad was kind of weird, but hey, if he didn’t try, he’d never know. Imagining her mad at him again or walking out of his life didn’t feel good at all, despite the fact they’d only known each other a short time. 

“I think I need to talk to Maddy again tomorrow,” he said thoughtfully, the smile on his face suggesting to Logan that his son was likely to have a new girlfriend in the form of the younger Kane girl before the week was out.

“Okay.” He yawned then, stretching his arms over his head. “The fatherly advice centre is now closed,” he told his son as they both stood up. “Go to bed, you have school tomorrow,” he instructed, ruffling his hair like he used to when he as a kid, not caring they were almost the same height now. “And don’t wake your sister,” he called after him in a hushed toned, not wishing to disturb Mia himself.

As Logan moved around the house, tidying up a few things and checking the locks, his mind wandered back to days gone by. He really had wasted a lot if time where Veronica was concerned, and it was luck more than his own good judgement that she had ended up in his arms when the smoke cleared. God, the Powers That Be, whatever controlled the world and the people in it sure had a funny way of showing you what your future should be, and that was perhaps what was still worrying Logan.

There was a thought gnawing at the back of his brain that he just couldn’t shift ever since they arrived back in Neptune, more specifically since his fight with Veronica. He trusted her completely, and believed whole-heartedly that she loved him and not her ex. What was bothering Logan so much was that Duncan seemed to still love her as much as ever, and there was nothing he could do about that.

* * *

It was getting late when Weevil headed home on his bike. He’d dropped Marcie at her house following their picnic and the long talk that came after. An across town trip had to be made then to the garage to check on things before he finally got a chance to head for his own home and bed. Unfortunately, Weevil doubted he was going to get much in the way of sleep, his head was so full of all that Marcie had told him and where they went from here.

She had a son, a child that was not his but made with another man who she barely knew, who had pretty much taken advantage of her in a vulnerable state and then bolted without a word. Marcie considered herself lucky now to have got rid of that man from her life - he was not the kind of father she wanted for Antonio, and had decided early on he would do just as well with only a mother. He had grandparents that cared at least, and Marcie had relied upon them to take care of him whenever they could. Still, she had pretty much raised the boy alone, afraid that if Weevil knew what she had done whilst away in Arizona he would never take her back.

It was perhaps the only thing he could’ve found a way to be mad at her for. She questioned his love for her, and that hurt Weevil a lot. Still, he could see why she’d see things that way. He wasn’t always the most understanding of people, even he would admit that he probably wouldn’t have taken her sleeping with another guy particularly well, and a kid was a whole other ballgame.

Weevil had spent the better part of the afternoon and into the evening hashing out this whole situation with Marcie. She had offered to give him time and space, going so far as to actively avoid him if that was what he wanted. Weevil wouldn’t ask for that, he couldn’t, he loved her so much even now, and the idea of losing her from his life again was a total no go. So she had a kid, he could deal with that, he’d told her definitely. Not that it would be simple, for either of them or Antonio, but they’d make it work. They had a lot to learn about each other after so long apart, but Weevil had faith that this might actually work out. Hell, if V could make a happily ever after with her rich white boy, Weevil was damn sure him and Marcie would see it through this time.

Pulling out at the next junction, Weevil was sure the road was clear. Unfortunately, he hadn’t banked on a car going way too fast and in the wrong direction down his laneway. One minute he was fine, the next blinded by the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. Thankfully, the man that had ridden a cycle since he was a teen knew how to react. Swerving to one side and skidding into the ditch, he looked up just in time to see the car hit the next telegraph pole with a sickening crunch.

With no other vehicle on the road, Weevil knew he had to check on the driver, even if they had tried to run him down. It took him just a few moments to lay down his bike and run quickly across the highway. The driver of the car was a woman which surprised Weevil just a little as he fought to open the slightly buckled driver-side door and get to her. She was apparently unconscious since she made no movement or sound as he worked to get to her.

“Hey, can you hear me?” he asked as he finally forced open the door and reached a hand out to the woman who’s face was currently buried beneath the airbag as she’d slipped from her seat, no belt to stop her. “Hey, come on...” he stopped short of whatever he was going to say.

As he gently manoeuvred her to better see her face, Weevil realised this woman was entirely familiar.

“Oh, hell...”


	18. Chapter 18

Veronica ought to be tired after such a long day, but on the contrary she was practically bouncing in her seat as she headed home well past midnight. Another job well done, another bad guy behind bars, it never failed to please her to see justice done. Sure, there were dangers to being a PI, and though Veronica hated to admit it, being a woman sometimes made things tougher. Still, tonight was not one in which she would lie awake fearing she’d made the wrong decision or let something bad happen. Nope, tonight she would sleep soundly knowing she’d made another family safer, that one more criminal was locked up and could do no more harm.

Turning the radio up a little, Veronica happily bopped along to an old Dandy Warhols classic from her teenage years, wondering at how appropriate it was to hear lyrics about friends she had a long time ago. Coming back to Neptune had been a tough decision but it seemed to her that she and Logan had made the right choice heading back to the town where they had grown up, the place that had flung the unlikely couple together so many years ago. Mia and Joel seemed to have settled into the high school pretty fast, and Veronica loved being reunited with Mac, however strange it had been to find she was now married to Dick! It seemed as if life was good to Veronica, but the smile didn’t stay on her face too long.

Flashing lights up ahead made her serious in an instant, the sight of an ambulance and a car in the ditch made her wince. Then she saw the familiar figure of a friend on the opposite side of the road, his motorcycle being winched onto a tow-truck as she watched. A deputy was soon stood before her car, waving for her to slow to a stop, something Veronica would’ve done anyway. She paid no mind to the man of the law as she bolted past him to get to Weevil.

“Oh my God, what happened?” she asked him, as she hugged him tight. “Are you okay?”

“I’m cool, V,” her friend assured her as he returned her hug and then glanced over to where a woman was being carefully put onto a stretcher. “She ain’t so good.”

“But that’s not Marcie,” she said, fairly sure she was right, hoping she was.

“No, it’s not Marcie,” he confirmed, “but... Veronica, I think you better call the Kane house,” he told her carefully, knowing he sure as hell wasn’t the right person to do it. “That’s your boy Duncan’s wife,” said Weevil, as the blonde’s eyes went wide.

“Annabelle,” she gasped at the sight of the woman, covered in blood and strapped down so no part of her moved on the journey to the hospital.

She was certainly in a very bad way, and Veronica dreaded to think how Duncan would cope with losing another important woman from his life, if the worst came to the worst.

* * *

Dick wasn’t really watching the TV, just flipping channels, eyes barely noticing the various pictures that flew by - soap opera, old slasher movie, re-run baseball game, local news report...

“The woman has yet to be formally identified, but it is thought that she was driving well over the limit, the wrong direction in the southbound lane...” explained the woman on the screen, immediately catching Dick’s attention.

He was sat forward on the couch in an instant, knocking up the TV’s volume control, and craning his neck to better see what had happened in the fuzzy pictures of the scene of the accident.

A woman driving erratically. Mac had certainly not been in a great frame of mind when she sped off the driveway a few hour ago, tyres squealing all the way. Hell, if anything happened to her, Dick didn’t know how he’d cope, didn’t know how he would go on living without Cindy at his side. When his brother jumped to his death, Dick wasn’t sure how he would ever recover, perhaps the only reasons he really had was Logan being his best friend initially, and then Mac showing him how good his life could be, how they could help each other go on.

Now, Dick faced losing the love of his life and that scared him more than anything. If he hadn’t already been sorry for the dumb way he acted tonight, he certainly was now. He was so sorry, so panicked, so far beyond scared, he barely noticed the front door open and close, despite the fact it slammed somewhat on the back-swing. It was only when Mac spoke that he took in the fact she was there.

“Hey,” she said quietly, her one softly spoken word grabbing her husband’s attention immediately.

Dick was up from the couch and launching himself at Mac, enveloping her in the biggest and tightest hug of her life she was sure of it. She had no idea why he looked so worried. Sure, he’d probably figured out by now what he’d said was wrong and he felt bad about it, she knew she’d over-reacted a little anyway, but she had her reasons. What didn’t make sense was how over-the-top Dick’s reaction was to her return.

“Thank God, it wasn’t you,” he said, holding her tight still.

“What wasn’t me?” she asked, frowning as she moved and finally saw his face, overwhelmed by the sheer look of relief and joy of apparently having her here.

“On the news, some woman crashed and...” he started to tell her, giving up half way through as he looked at her. “I am so sorry, Mac, you know I didn’t mean what I said the way it came out,” he told her instead, hoping she believed him.

“I know,” she said quietly, feeling a little stupid for her own behaviour, and quite bad for having panicked him so much.

Pulling on his hand, she followed him over to the couch where the couple sat down and Dick shut off the TV on automatic, not even looking at the screen or the remote as he did so. Mac looked so solemn and serious, it scared him almost as much as the news report had. She wasn’t hurt or worse, and that was a huge relief, but now she was frightening him all over again, making him worry that he was going to lose her in another way. She believed he was sorry, but maybe that wasn’t enough anymore. Dick dreaded what happened to so many guys he knew, the dreaded D word: divorce.

“Mac, I know I’m stupid sometimes,” he said quickly. “I know I say dumb stuff and I probably drive you crazy, but... y’know, I always love you,” he told her, hoping that would be what she needed to hear, that it would convince her not to say the words that scared him so much. 

Dick could lose his business, all his cash, everything, he knew he could survive all that, just so long as he had his wife and kids here with him. It was vastly different from the attitude he had back in high school, when his fortune was everything, well, that and sex anyway. It was amazing what a grown-up the boy had grown into since getting together with Mac, despite his apparent want for so long to be reality’s own Peter Pan.

“You know I love you too, like I could ever stop,” she told her husband with a small but genuine smile as she put her hand on his. “Tonight wasn’t all your fault. I won’t say what you said didn’t hurt but I acted like a kid, storming out like that,” she shook her head at her own dumb behaviour. “I just... I’m kind of hormonal lately,” she admitted, wondering what his reaction would be to that.

“Oh my God, are you pregnant?” he grinned, apparently quite thrilled at the idea, and that only made this harder for Mac.

Tears filled the poor woman’s eyes as she stared across at her husband, watching the smile fade from his face.

“I thought I was,” she explained, “but... but it turns out I never can be again,” she said, swallowing hard as emotion over took her once again. “I know it’s stupid and it happens to all women, but... I just feel so old and useless.”

“No way!” Dick argued, as he hugged her to him. “You are the most beautiful, amazing, smart, sexy woman in like the whole known universe!” he told her definitely, his enthusiasm making her giggle some despite her tears. “We have two gorgeous kids, Macky,” he reminded her kissing her hair as he held her close with her head on his shoulder. “And so long as I can get old with you, it’s all good.”

“I love you Dick Casablancas,” she told him, peering up at him with an almost playful look by now as she added. “Even if you are dumb sometimes.”

His reponse was to tickle her into submission, the pair of them rolling on the floor and laughing just like when they were kids. It wasn’t long before Mac had almost completely forgotten her worries about getting old, and Dick was taking full advantage of not having to care about getting her pregnant anymore!

* * *

Veronica had never seen Duncan look so panicked as when he bolted into the hospital, almost falling through the automatic doors and crashing into the Reception desk, detemerined to get to his wife as fast as possible.

“Duncan,” she called to him, getting up from her seat and rushing to his side. “It’s okay, I can tell you what’s happening,” she promised as she led him to the waiting room.

It was an odd situation, for Veronica at least after the way Duncan had been with her last time they’d seen each other. He’d kissed her, told her he loved her, and yet here he was in pieces over his wife. As awful as what was happening right now really was, it was somewhat of a relief to have her ex focused on his present and future, rather than ancient history that ought to stay buried in the past. That night, it was to be forgotten as a moment of madness, Veronica decided in that moment, because there were much more important things to focus on right now.

Duncan rambled the whole way to the waiting area, all full of questions about how Annabelle was and what exactly had happened. Veronica couldn’t imagine what he was feeling right now, she didn’t want to think how she might deal if she were in his place, if Logan had an accident of this kind.

In the absence of her next of kin, Veronica knew she would get nothing out of the medics with regards to Annabelle’s condition, hence her little white lie about being her sister. At least that meant she had some news for Duncan, albeit not so positive right now.

“Duncan, I know it’s hard, but you have to calm down and listen to me,” she told her ex, ever mindful of his condition and propensity to go a little more crazy in this kind of situation than the average person. “I can tell you what happened,” she said, making him look at her, noting a shift in his eyes the moment they met her own.

“Please, tell me,” he urged her, almost afraid of what he would hear but knowing he must anyway.

“Annabelle was driving too fast, and in the wrong lane,” Veronica said slowly and calmly, holding Duncan’s hand the whole time. “She came right at Weevil who was headed home, and they both swerved. He hit the ditch, she hit a telephone pole.”

“How is she?” Duncan asked quickly. “Is she... is she going to be okay?” he asked desperately, tears evident in his eyes and doubtless not the first he’d shed, Veronica thought.

“So far, it’s hard to say if there’ll be permanent damage,” she said, as carefully as she could. “She wasn’t wearing her seatbelt, and her head hit the dash when she fell out of the driver’s seat,” she explained. “Other than that it’s mostly cuts and bruises but-”

“She was drunk,” Duncan interrupted, eyes apparently glazing over as he looked away from his friend. “She started on the vodka way before I even got home from work, and... and I got mad at her.”

“You guys fought over her drinking,” Veronica guessed, fairly certain this wasn’t the first time Annabelle got drunk like this.

She seemed to put away quite a bit of wine at the dinner party the other night. Drinking seemed to be Mrs Kane’s way of coping, much like Veronica’s mother had done years before. It was possible to beat alcoholism, and she only hoped this accident would teach both Annabelle and Duncan a lesson about the problem.

“I got so mad at her,” he explained. “I was... Veronica I was afraid of what I was going to do,” he told her, looking awful about even considering losing it with the wife he clearly loved.

“But you didn’t hurt her,” the blonde said, not a question but a statement.

She knew Duncan well enough, she was sure he’d do everything in his power not to harm someone he clearly cared for.

“I slammed into my office, I was only in there a few minutes, just trying to calm down so we could talk and figure things out,” he explained. “The next thing I heard was the front door and tyres squealing past the window.” He shook his head as guilt washed over him and the tears that had been threatening this whole time finally spilled out of his eyes. “I should’ve tried to stop her, Veronica, I know I should, but I was afraid if I went after her she’d drive faster to get away,” he cried. “I didn’t want... I didn’t want to end up here like this,” he told her, shaking his head too hard and sobbing as he fell into Veronica’s arms.

“It’s alright, Duncan, it’s okay,” she told him as she rubbed his back and tried to soothe him. “It’s all going to be okay,” she assured him, though honestly she couldn’t guarantee it, as Annabelle’s very life hung in the balance.


	19. Chapter 19

It wasn’t at all weird for a teenage boy to wake up with a girl on his mind, but for Joel Echolls it felt different. Usually his nights were filled with dreams of swimwear models and kick-ass Lara Croft types. Last night, his mind had been occupied with a different kind of a girl, a real one who might not be societies conventional idea of hot, but she was what Joel realised he really wanted right now.

His talk last night with his Dad had left him thoughtful. He didn’t think much about the future, maybe because he knew it wasn’t so simple as make a plan and follow it through, not for his family. They moved a lot for their parents work and Joel and Mia had both got used to going with the flow. Neither had really dated in a major way, nothing permanent had been established for either of them. It seemed right not to make any commitments when the chances were they’d be up and away again before long, but right now, Joel wanted a girlfriend, and he wanted Maddy to be it.

Perhaps it was Neptune that made everything different. In a short space of time, he had come to realise that both his parents seemed more at home here than in any other place they’d ever lived. The weirdest thing was that it made him feel comfortable too, like he belonged, like he’d come home despite the fact he and his twin sister were babes in arms when his family departed from the town.

“Life is good,” Joel said to himself as he grinned at his own reflection in the bathroom mirror and got himself cleaned up ready for school.

He was so early out of bed, something which was rare to say the least, that he was out of the way before his sister even padded down the hall to use the bathroom.

“Geez, what’s up with you?” she asked, just this side of grumpy at having to get up and go to school when she really didn’t feel much like it. “Hey, did you just find out they’re making a new High School Musical?” she smirked at her own joke as they passed each other in the doorway.

“Yeah, that’s hilarious, Mia,” he dead-panned. “For your information, not that it’s any of your business, I’m gonna talk to Maddy today, y’know, about us maybe going out.”

The smile that crept across his sister’s face was nice to see, in a way, but entirely annoying too. Joel hated when his twin was right, but it happened a lot. She seemed to know his dating Maddy was inevitable even when he had no idea about it, and he wasn’t crazy about getting Mia’s approval on who he went out with. Still, it had to be better than fighting over stuff, it was always cool to know he had a permanent friend that would have his back no matter what.

“Yeah, so I’m gonna go now and hope you’ll stop smiling at me like a freakazoid.” Joel rolled his eyes, though he was grinning too, unable to help himself.

Things were really working out right now. Him and Maddy could make a go of things, he was sure, and his sister seemed really happy since she snagged Adam Casablancas. He was a good guy as far as Joel could tell, and if he wasn’t, Mia would make him get in line or get the hell out. He never had to worry about defending his sisters honour or whatever, much like his Mom she could cope on her own pretty much always.

Joel had a spring in his step as he headed down the stairs to where his parents were making breakfast. The scene was wrong from the moment his foot touched the ground. He heard no banter, no laughter, nothing from the kitchen. The Echolls were not a silent family, never had been, and Joel would’ve been more comfortable if he could have heard an argument beyond the kitchen door. At least then he would’ve known what was wrong, but the silence was painful to his ears as he moved into the next room.

Veronica was sat at the breakfast bar, a mug of coffee held between two hands, whilst Logan looked blankly into a cupboard across the room.

“Did you guys fight?” Joel checked, feeling sick inside at the idea something had his parents so mad they wouldn’t even look at each other, much less speak.

“Joel,” Veronica seemed startled by his presence, which was odd in itself since she was usually so aware of her surroundings. “No, honey, we didn’t fight,” she promised him, as he came to sit beside her, and Logan turned to face the pair.

“Son, your mom was at the hospital last night,” he began gently, at which point Joel already looked horrified, and an audible gasp came from the doorway where Mia now stood.

“What’s going on?” she asked, looking all the more young and panicked for still being dressed in her nightwear - she’d only come down to check if her skirt was still in the laundry since she couldn’t find it anywhere.

“Before anybody panics,” Veronica cut in.

“As if they’re not already,” her husband threw in before she had a chance to continue.

“Kids, there is nothing wrong with me or your dad,” the blonde swore, as Mia came to sit beside her brother.

“Then what’s with the all-around serious and trips to the hospital?” her daughter asked, still no less worried. “Oh my God, is it Grandpa Mars?”

“No, sweetie, please, let me just explain,” Veronica urged her. “When I was driving home last night... or early this morning actually, there’d been an accident on the highway. Weevil was there, but he wasn’t hurt,” she quickly explained. “A woman crashed her car... it was Maddy’s mom, Annabelle Kane.”

“Oh, damn,” Joel looked upset on his possible future-girlfriends behalf, as Mia’s face turned pale.

Neither of them could imagine having one of their parents in such an accident. It was clear this was a very serious situation, and perhaps Mia’s next thought which she spoke aloud was a little out of place.

“I guess you should reconsider asking Maddy out on a date today,” she said, rather pointlessly and Joel shot her a scathing look for her comment.

Honestly, neither of them really knew what to say, as it hit home how precious life was, how much their parents meant to them. In her line of work, Veronica risked her life almost every day and the kids had learnt to deal with it as they grew up. Of course, for all the guns Veronica ended up on the business end of, for all the situations that led to her being trapped in air-tight spaces or very nearly caught under the wheels of a moving vehicle, there were so many times when she just got in the car and drove, that simple act that could be as dangerous as any other if something went wrong.

“Is she... is she going to die?” Mia asked shakily.

“We don’t know, sweetheart,” her father told her, putting hand hand over hers on the counter top. “She’s not in the best shape.”

“Maddy and Lilly,” said Joel as he glanced between his parents. “Are they okay?”

“They weren’t in the car if that’s what you mean,” Veronica explained, “but I can’t imagine they’re feeling too great today.” She sighed, feeling dreadful for the whole family, including Duncan, though she said not a word about him right now.

“We should go see them, be supportive,” Mia suggested but her father shook his head.

“No, you two have school, and I don’t want you skipping,” he said firmly, continuing quickly before either of the twins had a chance to interrupt. “Maybe, after school, you can go visit at the hospital or whatever, but not before then.”

“Your father’s right,” came the agreement from Veronica, before she accepted a hug from both her kids who she knew were thinking the same thing she was - thank God this wasn’t happening to their family. “Honestly, I wish I could go visit today, check out the situation, but I have so much work.” She sighed, knowing there was little or nothing she could put off even if she wanted to.

Logan looked thoughtful a moment before he spoke.

“I don’t have to be at the office til nine thirty,” he told his wife. “I could swing by the hospital early, see what’s happening, then let you know on my way in to work.”

Veronica nodded that it sounded like a good idea, though she was a little surprised at the offer to get involved in such a situation where Duncan and the Kane family were concerned. If he were honest, Logan was equally baffled by his own idea, but then he would do anything for the sake of his darling wife.

* * *

Logan hated hospitals, which made his offer to come here all the more bizarre. Still, despite all that had happened, Mr Echolls did have a heart and felt sympathy for Duncan in this, his hour of need. Annabelle might be insecure about her marriage, but Logan had no doubt that she and Duncan did love each other in some way or other, otherwise they never would’ve needed up married with a child of their own.

What bothered Logan still was the undefined nature of the relationship between his wife, Veronica, and her ex, Duncan. Their love had supposedly died so many years before, and yet he had come on to her just a few nights ago, claiming he still loved her and all. That should not make Logan insecure after twenty years of marriage, but he just couldn’t help it. First love was deep and strong, this he knew. Despite the fact he had dated Lilly first, she never really had his heart, not in any deep an meaningful way. He loved her, of course he did, and a part of him always would, but to be in love, deeply and uncontrollably, he’d only ever felt that way about one woman, and that was Veronica Mars, his first and only love.

Speaking to a nurse, Logan got directions to Annabelle’s room, hoping to make his visit brief. With any luck, they’d tell him his old best friend’s wife was on the mend and that all would be well. He might not even have to see Duncan at all which would be helpful, this Logan was thinking until he rounded the corner and spotted Duncan in the room with his wife holding onto her hand and looking distraught as far as Logan could tell.

If Duncan had slept at all, Logan would be very much surprised. The man was a mess as he sat at his wife’s bedside, clutching her hand like a lifeline and apparently close to tears. Annabelle didn’t look good, with bandages binding her head, tubes coming out of everywhere and several machines beeping and clicking all around. Logan swallowed hard as he forced the image of Veronica out of head. If something like this happened to her, he wasn’t sure how he’d cope. It seemed Duncan was similarly falling apart as Logan overheard all the other man said through the door that had been left ajar.

“Please, Belle, you have to come through this, you have to be okay,” he told her voice with cracking with emotion as he tried his best to be strong but was apparently failing miserably already. “I know things haven’t always been perfect but you have to know I love you, more than anything,” he promised her faithfully. “All that stupid stuff about Veronica, I... I don’t know what I was thinking, I just... I love you so much, and I am so sorry. I’m going to make it up to you, I swear, just please, Belle, please don’t leave me,” he begged her, his head dropping onto her arm as he sobbed like a child for the wife he was close to losing.

Logan could hardly believe what he was hearing. He felt sick inside for his petty jealousy over Duncan’s feelings for Veronica. It was obvious he’d made a fool of himself as his marriage went through a rough patch and that he genuinely loved his wife. Perhaps even Duncan himself hadn’t realised how much Annabelle meant to him til he risked losing her this way. The universe had some sick ways of teaching you a lesson, Logan knew that for certain, but it seemed that was its plan.

“Mr Echolls?” Madeleine’s voice caught Logan off guard and he turned abruptly to see both the Kane girls hovering behind him.

“Hey, er... I think your parents needs to be alone right now,” he said, knowing he wouldn’t want his own kids to see him in the state Duncan was in. “You girls need anything to eat or...?” he tried, not sure what else to say as they walked down the corridor together.

“We’re okay.” Lilly shrugged. “Well, y’know, as okay as anybody can be when-”

“I get it.” Logan nodded. “Have they said anything about your mom?” he asked, unsure that he should say anything for fear of upsetting the girls, but not really knowing what else to do.

“They can’t know until she wakes up.” Maddy shook her head, obviously trying not to cry and finding it hard.

“Well, Mia and Joel send their love, Veronica too,” he told them, looking vaguely at his watch a moment. “I’m sorry, I can’t hang around but the twins will probably drop by after school, see how everybody’s doing.” He smiled in what he hoped was a comforting way.

Both Lilly and Maddy seemed to appreciate his kindness, but Logan’s mind wasn’t really on what has happening at the hospital, only on what he had seen and heard before the girls found him. He couldn’t think about anything else but getting where he needed to go. Getting in his car, he put his foot down and headed for his wife’s office, as fast as he dare.

It didn’t occur to Logan to knock or anything as he barged into the room. Luckily Veronica wasn’t in a meeting or anything but she had been just finishing up a call that was ended for her much more abruptly than she meant as Logan strode over, grabbed her up from her seat and kissed her long and hard on the mouth.

Hardly able to breathe when they parted, Veronica couldn’t have spoken, even if she had known what it was she wanted to say, but Logan knew what he meant and he planned on telling her so.

“If I ever lost you,” he breathed, holding her tight. “I don’t know how I’d deal with that, Veronica,” he told her.

“Oh my God,” she gasped as a thought hit her. “Is Annabelle...?”

“She’s still alive,” Logan assured her, “but Veronica, seeing her like that, seeing Duncan so broken up... I can’t imagine my life without in it, I don’t ever want to have to.”

“Won’t ever happen,” his wife promised him, as she stayed close and looked up into his eyes. “Worse comes to worst, you know I’d just come back and haunt your sorry ass forever.” She smiled some at her own joke that was hardly appropriate in such a serious moment, but made Logan smirk anyway.

“I love you, Veronica Mars,” he told her, the use of her old name seeming appropriate after a comment that was as snarky as she’d ever been as a teen when he’d first fallen in love with her.

“Hey, I’m proud to be Veronica Echolls,” she told him, pulling his head down to her height, “and I love you too,” she promised, as they kissed.


	20. Epilogue

Duncan stood in the corner of the dining room, watching his kids help set the table for Thanksgiving Dinner. It was a big event this year, and more than ever he had a lot to be thankful for. The smile on his face was as genuine as any ever had been as Annabelle entered the room from the opposite door, looking stunning in a new dress bought especially for today.

“Hey, Mom,” Maddy greeted her with a grin and a kiss on the cheek. “You like the decorations?” she asked, pointing at the arrangements of flowers and such that she and Lilly and made for the table.

“Beautiful, sweetheart,” her mother promised her. “You two have done such a great job.”

“We’re just awesome.” Lilly shrugged her shoulders, grinning at her own words that were only a semi-joke.

The happy family moment was interrupted by the doorbell, that only signalled more fun to come. The guests were here, or at least the first of many. Thanksgiving was a big family event, and that just didn’t mean people connected by blood, this the Kanes had learnt as their good friends new and old supported them through Annabelle’s recovery process and fight against alcoholism.

It wasn’t easy for anyone, but here they were, almost a year on, and everything was going well. Life was never perfect, but it had improved lately. Lilly had settled down some, perhaps because she came to realise what a strain she was putting on her parents marriage that was already going through so much, or maybe just because she finally started growing up. College was more of a priority for her now, and the new boyfriend she’d met there had helped to keep her on the fairly straight and mostly narrow paths, that only veered into badness on the very odd occasion.

Miraculously, the high school couples established months ago now were still going strong, and as the Echolls family arrived at the Kane house, along with Keith, then followed by the Casablancas, and Weevil, Marcie, and Antonio, each young couple was happy to see each other.

Joel had been there for Maddy through her tough times with her Mom and been just what she needed, leading him to find she might just be what was missing from his life all this time too. Mia kept Adam in line as best she could, and he strived to be a better person for her sake as well as his sisters. Josie needed less protection from her brother as she of course had Antonio to fight her corner these days too. That left the oldest unmarried couple in the group, Weevil and Marcie, who had got engaged on her birthday just a few weeks ago and planned to move in together just as soon as they could find a suitable place. Antonio had taken to his would-be step-father in no time at all, mostly because he could see how much his mother loved him, and because he never once treated him like anything but a man.

“Er, I know this isn’t my house or anything,” Veronica said as she got to her feet suddenly, surprising most others at the table. “And men usually make speeches, and we haven’t even started eating yet but, I’d just like to say that I am so thankful for so many things in my life. My husband, my kids, my dad, and all my wonderful friends who are as important to me as family.” She smiled. “And most of all,” she said, glancing down at Logan and then at all her friends and family around the table, “I am so thankful for coming home to Neptune. It may never be an easy place to live in but... it’s home.” She smiled, as Logan reached for her hand and held it tight.

“To coming home.” He smiled, raising his glass.

“Coming home,” the others all chorused as they too raised a glass in a toast that meant something important to each of them, and always would.


End file.
